FROM THE LIBRARY OF
PROFESSOR W. H. CLAWSON
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
NEW ENGLISH GRAMMAR
SWEET
VOL. I.
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
A NEW
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
LOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
BY
HENRY SWEET, M.A., Pn.D, LL.D.
Formerly President of the Philological Society
Edit or of The Oldest English Texts,' Alfred's lCnra Pastoralis' and'Orosius'
Author of An Anglo-Saxon Reader'
'A First' and 'A Second Middle-English Primer'
'A Primer of Spoken English,' 'A History of English Sounds'
'A Primer of Phonetics,' 'Shelley's Nature- Poetry ,' etc.
PART I
INTRODUCTION, PHONOLOGY, AND ACCIDENCE*
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1900
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BV HORACE HART, M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
THIS work is intended to supply the want of a scientific
English grammar, founded on an independent critical
survey of the latest results of linguistic investigation as
far as they bear, directly or indirectly, on the English
language.
Although historical, this grammar is not one-sidedly
historical: it is at the same time a logical grammar. It
will be seen that I have taken considerable trouble to define
accurately not only the parts of speech, but also the primary
grammatical categories ' word/ ' inflection/ ' sentence/ etc.,
which have hitherto been often neglected, and sometimes
ignored, by grammarians. Even in the more beaten tracks
I have found many obstacles and difficulties which it has
cost me years of hard thought to conquer — often only
partially. Practical teachers, who generally confine them-
selves to one book and one method, are often hardly able
to realize how unsettled grammar still is. I remember
once reading a paper on grammar before the Philological
Society, in which I modestly advanced the view that cannon
Vi PREFACE.
in cannon-ball was not an adjective. When I had finished
my paper, an English philologist, who was also a teacher,
got up, and told me that my criticisms were superfluous,
as no practical teacher possessed of common sense would
think of calling cannon in cannon-ball an adjective. There-
upon another eminent philologist, who was not only a
schoolmaster, but had written an English grammar, got
up, and, to the intense amusement of the meeting, maintained
that cannon in cannon-ball was an adjective and nothing
else; and although he refused to commit himself to a
comparison cannoner, cannonest, he found another speaker
to support him. Again, one would imagine that if any-
thing in grammar is perfectly clear, it is the function of
prepositions ; and yet when I refer to five different
grammars, I find the following five definitions, some of
which directly contradict the others: —
1. Prepositions are so named, because they were originally
prefixed to the verb to modify its meaning (Morris : Ele-
mentary Lessons in Historical English Grammar).
2. A preposition is a word which when placed before
a noun or a pronoun denotes some relation in which a
thing, or some action or attribute of a thing, stands to
something else (Mason : English Grammar).
3. A preposition is a word which shows the relation of
one word to another (Smith and Hall: School Manual of
English Grammar).
4. A preposition is a word that can be placed before
a noun or pronoun, so that the preposition and noun
or pronoun together can make up an adjective -phrase
or an adverb-phrase (Abbott: How to Tell the Parts of
Speech).
5. A preposition is a word prefixed to a noun or its
PREFACE. Vll
equivalent to make up a qualifying or adverb-phrase (Bain :
A Higher English Grammar).
It is also worthy of note that, with one exception, all
the above definitions insist on the prefixing of the preposition,
although a preposition that follows its noun-word (such as
the Latin tenus] is as much a preposition as one that pre-
cedes it.
This is evidently the result of an attempt to make the
definition harmonize with the etymology of the name. In
some grammars the definitions of the parts of speech are
literally nothing more than quibbling etymologies. It is
a singular fact that some of those who protest most loudly
against the servile imitation of Latin grammar are the great-
est sinners in this respect.
This is one of the reasons why I have abstained from
explaining the etymology of grammatical terms, which is
really no more a part of grammar than the etymology of
such a word as oxygen is a part of chemistry. Although
the existing grammatical terminology is objectionable enough
in many respects, it has at least the practical merit of
affording a certain number of technical terms of definite
and generally accepted application, and I see no advantage
in substituting a misleading term such as possessive case
for the traditional genitive. Of course, whenever the existing
terminology is confusing, ambiguous, or defective, it is our
duty to try to improve it. I have myself been as conservative
as possible. Where the usage varies, I adopt what seems
the best nomenclature, and use it consistently. Thus, in
common with the majority of English grammarians, I prefer
noun to substantive — not however for the sake of the
quibbling etymological definition of a noun as ' the name
of anything/ but simply because it is shorter. Where the
viii PREFACE.
existing nomenclature is defective, I have, of course, been
obliged to coin new expressions. The multiplication of
grammatical terms is certainly an evil, but it is an un-
avoidable one : it is only by repeated experiment and by
a slow process of elimination and of survival of the fittest
that we shall ever attain a uniform terminology. Some of
my new names are mere shortenings of familiar expressions,
as when I shorten ' verbal nouns and adjectives ' into verbal
as a convenient name to include the (un-finite' forms of
the verb. I have always tried to make the new names
suggest associations with the existing terminology. I have
also tried to avoid arbitrary restrictions in the application
of terms already in familiar use. Thus I prefer to use
sentence as a general term to include 'clause,' rather than
to attempt enforcing a distinction which is not warranted
by popular language. On the same principle I reject phrase
altogether as a grammatical term, because of the endless
confusions that arise between the various arbitrary meanings
given to it by different grammarians and its popular meaning.
I also avoid the arbitrary distinction between ' complex ' and
'compound' sentence by using the former only, and short-
ening complex sentence into complex. I have lastly avoided
the common English fault of parading German terms when
there are good English ones to hand ; thus I prefer mutation
to umlaut, blending to contamination.
As I have already said, this grammar is not one-sidedly
or fanatically historical. The old belief in the value of
historical and comparative philology as an aid to the practical
study of languages has been rudely shaken of late years;
but the practice of interlarding even the most elementary
English grammars with scraps of historical and comparative
philology is still almost universal. In the good old days
PREFACE. ix
of Schleicher and Brachet, when the main principles of
Arian and Romance etymology could be tabulated in a
brief space, and with a delusive simplicity and symmetry,
this practice was plausible enough; but nowadays, when
even the phonetic changes from Latin to French can hardly
be mastered by specialists themselves, and Grimm's Law
has to be supplemented by Verner's Law and a host of
other Laws, all of them liable to endless complications by
analogical influences (which we are no longer allowed to
dismiss as irregularities), common sense and honesty com-
mand us to give up the attempt to make comparative
philology and etymology a part of ordinary education.
And now that it is generally admitted that the principles
of language and its development can be better explained
by English itself than by any dead language, it seems most
rational to proceed from the known to the unknown — to
learn as much as we can from the history of English itself
before attempting a wider survey, for which the student will then
be thoroughly prepared. Thus, what better preparation can
there be for the study of Verner's Law than an acquaint-
ance with the precisely analogous Modern English change
(§ 863)? Again, the results of Comparative Philology are so
meagre and so problematical in many cases, that it is more
profitable to treat of the origin of inflections, parts of speech,
etc. from the point of view of general grammar, as I have
done in this book.
A less ambitious program would further allow of
greater thoroughness within its narrower limits. If his-
torical English grammar were bounded definitely by Old
English (Anglo-Saxon) at one end, an elementary know-
ledge of Old English might reasonably be made the indis-
pensable prelude to the historical study of English. It
X PREFACE.
seems strange that at this time of day it should be necessary
to insist that this is the indispensable foundation : that
cramming up a Middle English text is no more a prepara-
tion for the study of the English language than it is for
the study of English literature \ that until our whole system
of teaching these subjects and examining in them has
been radically reformed, the Extension movement cannot be
put on that definite footing which every true friend of educa-
tion wishes it to assume.
In this grammar I have taken pains to make the Old
English foundation as sound as possible, especially by
eliminating the numerous errors that have been handed
down from grammar to grammar, or have resulted from
taking words from the dictionaries without verification. I
have spent many weary hours in hunting up words and
forms given in Matzner's grammar, merely to find that they
have no existence.
I have also paid great attention to the distinctions of
dialect, and the chronology of the language. Dr. Morris
has already made the discrimination of the Middle English
dialects a part of historical grammar teaching. This
grammar is the first to do the same for the Old English
period. It is well known that the German grammars make
a complete confusion between the different periods of
Modern English, all grammars — English as well as German —
ignoring the distinction between the literary and spoken
language. This again has been completely reformed in
the present grammar, in which the spoken language has
had its proper importance assigned to it.
As regards its scope, this grammar is strictly elementary,
as far, at least, as a grammar which is scientific and his-
torical and not purely descriptive can be said to answer
PREFACE. XI
to this description. It confines itself therefore as much as
possible to the main grammatical phenomena and main
lines of development; and being based on the language
of the present time, it ignores historical details which do
not bear on Present English.
As one of the most -direct practical uses of English
grammar is that it serves as a preparation for the study
of foreign languages, I have throughout endeavoured to
bring out clearly the relation of English grammar to general
grammar, with especial reference to the languages that are
most studied in England, and to Old English, as may be
seen in my treatment of the cases (§ 128) and of the sub-
junctive mood (§ 294).
As my exposition claims to be scientific, I confine myself
to the statement and explanation of facts, without attempting
to settle the relative correctness of divergent usages. If an
' ungrammatical' expression such as it is me is in general
use among educated people, I accept it as such, simply
adding that it is avoided in the literary language. So also
in dealing with such spellings as honor (§ 1710), I make
no comments, leaving the reader to draw the natural in-
ference from the facts stated, namely that the English
retention of the older spelling honour is a piece of con-
servatism which is inconsistent with our abandonment of
emperour, etc.
I have made my exposition as concrete as possible by
embodying every rule or principle in an example. That
there are not enough examples I am fully aware ; but this
is a defect which could not be avoided in a first edition
of limited space.
I am at variance with most German philologists in com-
pletely separating the descriptive and logical part of grammar
Xll PREFACE.
from the historical: it will be seen that in my introduction
I explain fully the grammatical categories, and even treat
of the parts of speech in detail before entering on a single
historical question, on the principle that it is no use ex-
plaining the origin of a phenomenon till the learner has
some practical acquaintance with that phenomenon.
In this introduction I may seem to have gone too much
into generalities, as, for instance, in the section on the history
of language. ' Why not/ the reader may say, ' have simply
referred us to Professor Max Miiller's Lectures on the Science
of Language, and Professor Earle's Philology of the English
Tongue ? ' But these works, admirable as they are in some
respects, are not suited to serve as introductions to my
grammar. I have therefore been obliged to introduce my
readers to the fundamental principles of linguistic science
in my own way.
Like Professor Bain, I treat of the parts of speech in detail
apart from their inflections and the details of their formal
characteristics.
In my treatment of sentences I may call attention to the
new method of organic analysis, which instead of mechanic-
ally cutting up a complex sentence into single sentences
or clauses, tries to analyse it into lesser groups, each with
a definite structure of its own.
An essential feature of this grammar is that it is on a
phonetic basis. It is now generally recognized, except in
hopelessly obscurantist circles, that phonology is the indis-
pensable foundation of all linguistic study, whether practical
or scientific — above all, of historical grammar. I have made
my exposition as brief and simple as possible, in consideration
of the difficulty of getting instruction in the subject, and
the lamentable want of teachers.
PREFACE. Xlii
The ground having thus been fully prepared, I have been
able in the accidence to follow a purely historical exposi-
tion.
In the section on Derivation I have been careful to exclude
all details that do not belong to grammar, but to the etymo-
logical dictionary: from an English point of view bishop
has nothing whatever to do with the prefix epi-.
In preparing this grammar, I have been influenced from
so many quarters, that it would not be possible to acknow-
ledge my obligations fully. The grammars I have made
most use of are those of Matzner, Abbott, Bain, Hall, Mason,
and Morris. I have also to acknowledge my obligations
to the Parallel Grammar Series, especially to Professor
Sonnenschein's Latin Grammar, from which nearly all my
Latin quotations are taken. My treatment of the suffix -ate
(§ I75I) will help to show what a debt English grammar
will some day owe. to The New English Dictionary. In
the Introduction I owe more to H. Paul's Prinzipien der
Sprachgeschichte than to any one book — at least in the
historical sections. I must also specially mention Jespersen's
Studier over engelske Kasus, which is the most original and
stimulating investigation in English grammar that has ap-
peared for a long time. I need not here repeat the acknow-
ledgments that I have made in the prefaces to my History
of English Sounds, etc.
There is, on the other hand, much in this grammar that
is original. Many of my grammatical investigations have,
of course, been already published elsewhere, such as the
weakening of Old English eo into ea, a (§1068) in the
Philological Society's Proceedings, 1880 -i, p. 75. I may
call special attention to my paper on Words, Logic and
Grammar (Phil. Soc. Transs. 1875-6), in which will be
xiv PREFACE.
found the germs of many of the 'new views' which have
been re-imported into this country from Germany.
In conclusion, I need hardly say that I shall be grateful
for any criticisms and suggestions.
HENRY SWEET.
SOUTH PARK, REIGATE.
15 Dec. 1891.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE i
Definition of Grammar § I. Objects of Grammar § 9. Defi-
nition of Language § 16. Form and Meaning § 17. Province
of Grammar § 18. Connection between Form and Meaning
in Grammar § 19. Isolation; Irregularity § 20. Gram-
matical and Logical Categories § 24. Divergence between
Grammatical and Logical Categories § 26.
Logical Categories.
Ideas Expressed by Words ..... 12
Substances and their Attributes § 28. Qualifiers § 34.
General and Special Words § 37.
Combination of Words to Express Thoughts . . 16
Adjunct-words and Head-words § 40. Subject and Predicate
§ 42. Assumption (Attribution) § 44. Suboixlination and
Coordination § 45.
Grammatical Categories.
Words 19
Form-words § 58.
Word-formation ........ 24
Composition § 63. Derivation § ^9.
Inflections 28
Relations between Words 30
xvi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Parts of Speech 35
Classification of the Parts of Speech § 100. Conversion of
the Parts of Speech § 105.
Relations between Logical and Grammatical Cate-
gories . . . . . . • • 4°
Fullness of Expression ; Ellipse § 109. Uniformity of Ex-
pression § 113. Adequacy of Expression § 114. Divergence
between Logic and Grammar ; Antigrammatical Construc-
tions § 1 1 6.
PARTS OF SPEECH IN DETAIL.
Nouns.
Form 49
Inflections § 126. Gender § 142. Form-words § 147.
Meaning 54
Concrete Nouns § 150 : Class-nouns § 151 ; Collective
Nouns § 153 ; Material Nouns § 155 ; Proper Names § 156.
Abstract Nouns § iC>5.
Function ......... 62
Adjectives.
Form .......... 65
Meaning 67
Function 68
Pronouns.
Form 69
Meaning . . . . . . . . . 71
Function * 71
Classes of Pronouns 73
Personal Pronouns § 200. Possessive Pronouns § 203. Em-
phatic Pronouns § 205. Reflexive Pronouns § 207. Re-
ciprocal Pronouns § 210. Interrogative Pronouns § 211.
Relative and Conjunctive Pronouns § 216. Definite Pro-
nouns § 224. Indefinite Pronouns § 229. Quantitative
Pronouns § 232. Negative Pronouns § 236.
Numerals 87
Verbs.
Form 87
CONTENTS. XVll
Meaning 89
Transitive and Intransitive § 248. Reflexive Verbs § 254
Reciprocal Verbs § 256. Impersonal Verbs § 257.
Function 93
Form-classes . 96
Number § 269. Person § 270. Tense § 271 : Simple and
Compound Tenses § 274 ; Primary and Secondary Tenses
§ 279; Complete and Incomplete Tenses § 281; Tense-aspects
(Duration, etc.) § 283 ; Definite and Indefinite Tenses § 288.
Mood : Fact-mood and Thought-mood (Indicative, Sub-
junctive, etc.) § 293 ; Imperative Mood § 308. Voice
(Active, Passive, Reflexive) § 311. Miscellaneous Forms
(Negative, Emphatic, Interrogative) § 317.
Verbals 115
Infinitive and Supine § 321. • Gerund § 324. Participles
§ 330.
Adverbs 118
Form . 119
Meaning . . 120
Function 123
Independent Adverbs § 358 : Sentence-modifying § 364 ;
Sentence-adverbs § 368. Dependent Adverbs § 369 :
Correlative Adverbs § 370 ; Relative and Conjunctive Ad-
verbs § 373. Connection between Adverbs and other
Parts of Speech : Connection between Adverbs and Adjec-
tives § 376 ; Connection between Adverbs and Pronouns
§ 377 > Connection between Adverbs and Prepositions § 380;
Connection between Adverbs and Conjunctions § 381.
Prepositions.
Form 134
Function ......... 136
Meaning 139
Conjunctions.
Form .......... 140
Function 140
Meaning 144
VOL. i. b
XVlli CONTENTS.
PAGE
Coordinative and Subordinative Conjunctions . . 149
Detached Conjunctions 150
Interjections 151
WORD-GROUPS : . . 153
SENTENCES 155
Relations between Sentences 160
Clauses and Complexes § 462 : Inserted, Parenthetic, and
Appended Clauses § 467; Extended Complexes § 473;
Sequences § 482 ; Relations between Sentences, Complexes,
and Sequences § 485.
Classes of Sentences 170
Part-of-Speech Relations § 496. Relations between Subject
and Predicate § 500.
HISTORY OF LANGUAGE.
Changes in Language 176
Effects of Change on the Relations between Words § 522.
Effects of Change on Language as a Means of Expression
§ 528.
Logical Control of Changes . . . . .186
Ellipse § 534. Analogy § 535.
Origin and Development of Language . . . 192
Development of Grammatical Categories § 551. Origin of
Parts of Speech § 560.
Relations of Languages to one another . . . 200
Linguistic Separation : Origin of Dialects and Cog-
nate Languages 201
Influence of one Language on another . . . 203
DIVISIONS AND METHODS OF GRAMMAR . 204
Accidence and Syntax § 581. Grammar and Dictionary
§ 583. Descriptive and Historical Grammar § 586. Gram-
matical Difficulties § 589. Grammatical Analysis § 591.
HISTORY OF ENGLISH 211
Periods § 594. Cognate Languages § 595.
CONTENTS. xix
PAGE
Old English 213
Characteristics of Old English § 605. Latin Influence
§606. Celtic Influence § 607. Scandinavian Influence § 608.
French Influence § 610.
Middle English 216
Dialects of Middle English § 614. Struggle between French
and English § 617. Rise of the London Dialect § 619.
Scandinavian Influence § 621. French Influence § 622.
Latin Influence § 625.
Modern English 221
Influence of other Languages § 634. Periods § 638.
Present English 223
Strata § 646.
PHONOLOGY.
PHONETICS.
Analysis 226
Throat-sounds : Breath and Voice § 651. Nasal Sounds
§652. Consonants § 653. Vowels § 654. Vowel-like Con-
sonants § 655.
Synthesis 227
Quantity § 658. Stress § 659. Intonation § 661. Glides
§ 664. Syllables § 666. Diphthongs § 667.
Vowels 230
Rounding § 669. Tongue-retraction § 670. Tongue- height
§ 672. Acoustic Qualities of Vowels § 673. The Vowels in
Detail § 674.
Consonants . . . 234
Form § 692. Place § 698. Compound Consonants : Round-
ing, Fronting § 705. Intermediate Positions § 707. The
Aspirate § 708. Table § 709. R in English § 711.
LAWS OF SOUND-CHANGE . . . . . 238
OLD ENGLISH SOUNDS.
Orthography 240
b 2
XX CONTENTS.
PAGE
Pronunciation , .241
Stress 243
Quantity 245
Vowels 245
Mutation § 751. Consonant Influence § 754.
Consonants . . . 249
Gradation 251
MIDDLE ENGLISH SOUNDS.
Orthography . . . . , . . . 252
Stress 255
Quantity 256
Vowels . . . 257
Consonants . . 261
MODERN ENGLISH SOUND-CHANGES.
Orthography 267
Vowels 274
Consonants . . 279
PRESENT ENGLISH.
Stress 283
Word-stress § 879. Stress in Word-groups and Compounds
§ 889. Extension of Compound-stress § 918. Group-com-
pounds § 923. Stress Advanced in Compounds § 926. As-
sumptive (Attributive) Compounds and Groups § 929.
Quantity 297
ACCIDENCE.
NOUNS.
Old English . .301
Gender § 945. Strong and Weak § 948. Cases § 949.
Declensions § 950.
CONTENTS. xxi
PAGE
Early Middle English -305
Late Middle English . . . . . . .311
Modern English . 312
ADJECTIVES.
Inflections.
Old English 322
Middle English 324
Modern English 325
Comparison.
Old English 325
Middle English . . . . . . . . 326
Modern English 326
Irregular Comparison . 327
PRONOUNS ......... 331
Personal Pronouns.
Old English . .333
Middle English . -334
Modern English . 338
Possessive Pronouns.
Old English 343
Middle English 344
Modern English 345
Self.
Old English 346
Middle English 347
Modern English 347
Demonstrative Pronouns.
Old English .348
Middle English 349
Modern English . . . . . . .351
XX11 CONTENTS.
PAGE
One, A ; None, No 352
Interrogative and Relative Pronouns . . . 353
Definite Pronouns 355
Indefinite Pronouns • 355
Quantitative Pronouns 358
NUMERALS.
Cardinal 359
Ordinal 362
VERBS.
Old English Verbs 364
Inflections § 1177. Strong Verbs § 1190. Weak Verbs
§ 1202. Preterite-Present Verbs § 1211.
Middle English Verbs 374
Early Middle English § 1214. Late Middle English § 1239.
Modern English Verbs 383
Present English Verbs 391
Irregular Verbs in Modern English . . . 393
Consonantal Verbs . . . . . . 394
With vowel-change: pret. vowel e § 1293; 09 § 1300; o
§ 1301 ; ou § 1302. With t instead of d § 1304. With t »
instead of d and vowel-change : pret. vowel e § 1312 ; o
§ 1321. With t instead of-ded § 1323. With consonant-loss
§ 1334. With consonant-loss and vowel-change : pret.
vowel ee § 1335 ; o § 1336.
Invariable Verbs 402
aa § 1344; ai § 1345 ; « § 1346 ; e § 1349 ; 99 § 1354 ;
j § 1356 ; ° § J362 ; u § 1363.
Vocalic Verbs 405
pret. vowel au § 1364 ; n § 1368 : ee § 1382 ; e § 1395 ; ei
§ 1405; i § 1408; ij § 1412; o § 1413; ou § 1418; o
§ 1438 ; u § 1446 ; uw § 1450.
Mixed Verbs 418
Isolated Forms 420
quoth § 1473 ; hight § 1474 ; iclept § 1475 ; wont § 1476.
CONTENTS. XXlil
PAGE
Anomalous Verbs 420
can § 1479 ; dare § 1480 ; may § 1481 ; must § 1482 ; ought
§ 1483; shall § 1484; will § 1485; wot § 1486; need
§ 1487 ; be § 1488 ; have § 1492 ; do § 1493.
PARTICLES.
Adverb-endings 428
Adverbs from Nouns and Adjectives . . .431
Pronominal Adverbs 433
Correlative Particles 436
Pronominal Conjunctions 436
Negation and Affirmation 437
Comparison of Adverbs * 438
Prepositions 440
Old English § 1528. Middle and Modern English § 1535.
Interjections < 443
COMPOSITION.
Old English 444
Modern English 446
Meaning of Compounds . . . 448
DERIVATION.
Native Elements.
Prefixes 450
a- § 1569, 1570; acg- § 1571 ; be- § 1572 ; for- § 1573 ; ge-
§ 1574; mis- § 1575 ; of- § 1576 ; on- § 1577; to- § 1579;
un- § 1580; wan- § 1581.
Suffixes 456
Noun-forming, a) Concrete : -cen § 1590 ; -end § 1591 ;
-ere § 1592 ; -estre § 1593 ; -ing § 1594 ; -ling § 1595 ; -en
§ 1596. b) Abstract : -nis § 1597 ; -u § 1598 ; -ub, -)> § 1599 ;
-ung, -ing § 1600 dom § 1601 ; -had § i6os, , -lac § 1603 ;
-rseden § 1604; -scipe § 1605.
XXIV CONTENTS.
PACE
Adjective-forming: -ede § 1606; -en § 1607; -ig § 1608 ;
-ise § 1609; -sum § 1610 feald § 1611 ; -full § 1612;
-leas § 1613 ; -lie § 1614; -weard § 1615.
Verb-forming : -na § 1616; -sian § 1617 ; la-can § 1618.
Foreign Elements 468
Prefixes 468
ab-, abs, a- § 1623 ; ad-, a- § 1624 ; amb- § 1625 ; amphi-
§ 1626 ; an- § 1627 ; ana- § 1628 ; ante- § 1629 ; anti- § 1630 ;
apo- § 1631 ; bi- § 1632 ; cata- § 1633 ; circum- § 1634 5
cis- § 1635 ; com- § 1636 ; contra-, counter- § 1637 ; de-
§ 1638 ; demi- § 1639 5 di' § l64° 5 dia~ § I(^4i 5 dis- § 1642 ;
en- § 1643 ; endo- § 1644 ; epi- § 1645 ; ex- § 1646, 1647 5
exo- § 1648 ; extra- § 1649 5 hyper- § 1650 ; hypo- § 1651 ;
in- § 1652, 1653; inter-, enter- § 1654; intro- § 1655;
meta- § 1656 ; ne- § 1657 ; non' § l65$ 5 ob' § l659 5 para-
§ 1660 ; per- § 1661 ; post- § 1662 ; pre- § 1663 ; preter-
§ 1664 ; pro- § 1665, 1666 ; pros- § 1667 ; re- § 1668 ; retro-
§ 1669; se- § 1670; semi- § 1671; sine- § 1672; sub-
§ 1673 ; subter- § 1674 ; super- § 1675 ; supra- § 1676 ; sus-
§ 1677; syn- § 1678; trans- § 1679; ultra- § 1680.
Suffixes 479
Noun-forming, a) Personal : -ee § 1682 ; -ar, -e(e)r, -ier
§ 1683; -or § 1684; 'ard> -art § l687; -ess § 1688; -ist
§ 1689 ; -ite § 1690 ; -trix § 1691. b) Diminutive : -tile, -cule
§ 1692 ; -et, -let § 1693. c) Abstract : -y, -ey § 1694 ; -ice,
-ess, -ise § 1698; -cy, -sy § 1699; '&&> '^ § I7°°> -ade
§ 1702; -age § 1703; -ment § 1704; -ion § 1706; -ana
§ 1 707 ; -ance, -ence § 1 708 ; -ancy, -ency § 1 709 ; -or, -our
§ 1710; -ory § 1711; -ry § 1712; -ure § 1713; -ism
§ 1714; -icism § 1715; -ate § 1716; -itude § 1717; -ty
§ 1718.
Adjective-forming : -ble § 1719, 1720 ; -bund, -bond § 1721 ;
-ic, -ique § 1722; -ical § 1726; -iac § 1727; -id § 1728;
-oid § 1729; -al, -ial § 1730; -il, -ile § 1734; -an, -ane
§ 1735 5 -ean § 1738 ; -ian § 1739 ; -ine, -in § 1740 ; -ant,
-ent § 1742 ; -lent § 1743 ; -ar § 1744; -ary § 1745 ; -ior
§1746; -ese § 1747; -ose, -ous § 1748; -esque § 1750;
-t, -te § 1751.
Verb-forming: -fy § 1756; -ish § 1757 ; -ize, -ise § 1758.
INTRODUCTION.
GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE.
DEFINITION OF GRAMMAR.
1. Grammar may be regarded either from a theoretical or
a practical point of view. From the theoretical point of
view grammar is the science of language.
By 'language' we understand languages in general, as opposed
to one or more special languages.
2. The first business of grammar, as of every other science,
is to observe the facts and phenomena with which it has to
deal, and to classify and state them methodically. A grammar
which confines itself to this is called a descriptive grammar.
Thus a descriptive grammar dealing with Modern English
would state such facts as that / call is made into / culled to
show that the action of calling took place in the past instead
of in the present ; and would go on to state that I go is made
into / went, I hold into / held, to express the same change of
meaning — or, in the technical terminology of grammar, that
most Modern English ' verbs' form their « preterite' by adding
-ed, the verbs go and hold having the exceptional or 'irregular'
preterites went and held respectively.
3. When we have a clear statement of such grammatical
phenomena, we naturally wish to know the reason of them,
VOL. I. B
2 INTRODUCTION. [§ 4-
and how they arose. In this way descriptive grammar lays
the foundations of explanatory grammar. There are
three chief methods of explaining the phenomena of language,
by the help, namely, of (a) historical grammar, (b) comparative
grammar, and (c) general grammar.
4. (a) Historical grammar tries to explain the phe-
nomena of a language by tracing them back to their earlier
stages in that language. Thus, if we go back a few centuries
in the history of the English language, we shall find that went
was originally the preterite of a verb to wend, meaning * to
turn' — a meaning still partially preserved in such literary
phrases as to wend one's way, to wend homewards. The
historical explanation of the preterite of go is therefore that
it was originally the preterite of another verb of similar
meaning. But if we take the preterite held, and trace it
back even to the oldest English of the eighth century, we
cannot explain its origin. To do this, we require the help of
6. ($) Comparative grammar, which compares the gram-
matical phenomena of a language with those of the cognate lan-
guages, that is, languages which are related to it through having
arisen from a common parent language. Just as the Romance
languages — Italian, Spanish, French, etc. — ere cognate to
one another through being independent developments of their
parent language Latin, so also English is cognate with Dutch,
German, Danish, Swedish, and the other Germanic languages.
Now in the oldest Germanic languages the preterite of hold
appears in some such form as hehald, being formed, like many
other Germanic preterites, by reduplication, that is, repetition
of the beginning of the word. The Germanic languages them-
selves are cognate with Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and the other
members of the Arian family of languages; and as com-
parative grammar finds reduplicated preterites in these lan-
guages also — thus Latin morded, 'I bite/ has preterite momordt,
'I bit' — it infers that such preterites formed part of the
Parent Arian language — the hypothetical ancestor of all the
§ 70 GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE. 3
languages mentioned in this paragraph. We see then that
comparative grammar is really a branch of historical grammar,
only it takes us a long way further back than we could go
by confining ourselves to one language. The historical
explanation of held afforded by comparative grammar is,
therefore, that it is a contraction of an originally redupli-
cated form. Historical and comparative grammar content
themselves with tracing the phenomena of a language — or
of a group or family of cognate languages — as far back as
possible, without attempting to explain the origin of the oldest
forms thus arrived at. To do this is the task of
6. [c] General grammar (philosophical grammar), which
is not concerned with the details of one special language or
family of languages, but with the general principles which
underlie the grammatical phenomena of all languages. In
dealing with such a phenomenon as reduplication, general
grammar asks (a) what are the facts about reduplication in those
languages in which we can observe it clearly ? and (b) what
is the explanation of those facts — what are the general prin-
ciples on which they depend? Thus general grammar first
of all tells us that reduplication is widely used in primitive
languages all over the world to strengthen the meaning of
words in various ways, as when man-man is used to express
'more than one man' or 'many men/ big-big is used to
express 'very big/ and so on. Hence it infers that in Parent
Arian past time in verbs was regarded as more emphatic—
because more definite — than present time, and so was
expressed by reduplication.
7. The explanation of grammatical phenomena often
seems self-evident — a matter of ' common sense.' Thus the
origin of the preterite of went hardly requires to be ex-
plained to any one who is acquainted with literary English.
But even in such cases as this we can never dispense with
historical and comparative grammar, for experience has
shown that an examination of the older forms of a language
B 2
4 INTRODUCTION, [§ 8.
may at any time prove that what appears at first sight to be
a self-evident explanation is untenable. Thus it would
seem natural to suppose that the familiar phrase I'll tell you
what is a shortening of the longer phrase / will tell you what
it is ; but historical and comparative investigation shows that
what is here used in the sense of ' something,' which was one
of its regular meanings in Old English — a meaning which the
cognate German word was still has, so that the longer phrase
is really an expansion of the original shorter one, the result
of the meaning of the what contained in it having become
obsolete.
8. Considered from a practical point of view, grammar is
the art of language.
OBJECTS OF GRAMMAR.
9. The main object of practical grammar is to give — or
rather, help to give — a mastery of foreign languages either
living or dead, including earlier stages of the native language,
as when a modern Englishman sets to work to learn the Old
English of King Alfred's time with the help of a grammar
and dictionary. This mastery may amount only to under-
standing the language in its written or spoken form, or may
include the power of expression both in speaking and writing.
10. Grammar in the widest sense of the word is therefore
both the science and the art of language. But as the
scientific study of language is more definitely expressed by
'philology/ the term grammar is generally used to imply
a mainly practical analysis of one special language, in which
study general principles and theoretical explanations are
subordinated to concise statements of facts, and definite rules.
11. We study the grammar of our own language for other
objects than those for which we study the grammar of foreign
languages. We do not study grammar in order to get
a practical mastery of our own language, because in the
§ i4.] GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE. 5
nature of things we must have that mastery before we begin
to study grammar at all. Nor is grammar of much use
in correcting vulgarisms, provincialisms, and other linguistic
defects, for these are more dependent on social influence at
home and at school than on grammatical training.
12. In considering the use of grammar as a corrective of
what are called ' ungrammatical' expressions, it must be
borne in mind that the rules of grammar have no value
except as statements of facts : whatever is in general use
in a language is for that very reason grammatically correct.
A vulgarism and the corresponding standard or polite ex-
pression are equally grammatical — each in its own sphere —
if only they are in general use. But whenever usage is
not fixed— whenever we hesitate between different ways of
expression, or have to find a new way of expression — then
grammar comes in, and helps us to decide which expression
is most in accordance with the genius of the language, least
ambiguous, most concise, or in any other way better fitted to
express what is required.
13. The native language should be studied from the point
of view of general grammar. We thus learn to compare the
grammatical phenomena of our own language with those of
other languages, and to criticize impartially its defects, so
that we are better prepared for the divergent grammatical
structure of other languages. In this way the study of
English grammar is the best possible preparation for the
study of foreign languages.
14. The study of grammar has also a variety of less direct
uses. Grammar being itself a science, affords a training
in scientific methods generally. It also helps us to get
a clearer knowledge of the things and ideas expressed by
language ; as the poet says of Prometheus : —
He gave Man speech,
and speech created thought, which is the measure of the
Universe. (SHELLEY, Prometheus.)
6 INTRODUCTION. [§ 15.
15. Lastly, grammar satisfies a rational curiosity about the
structure and origin of our own and other languages, and
teaches us to take an interest in what we hear and utter
every day of our lives.
DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE.
16. Language is the expression of ideas by means of
speech-sounds combined into words. Words are com-
bined into sentences, this combination answering to that
of ideas into thoughts. Thus in Latin the word terra
expresses the idea ' the earth,' and rotunda expresses the
idea ' round/ and these two words are combined together to
form the sentence terra rotunda, which expresses the thought
'the earth is round.' Different languages have different
sounds (sound-systems), and attach different meanings to the
combinations of sounds into words, and of words into
sentences.
FORM AND MEANING.
17. There are, then, two sides to language — two ways of
looking at it : there is the formal side, which is concerned
with the outer form of words and sentences, and the logical
side, which is concerned with their inner meaning. Thus
the formal side of such a word as man is that it is made up of
certain sounds standing in a certain relation to one another —
following one another in a certain order, etc. So also the
form of such a sentence as the man helped the boy consists in
its being composed of certain words following one another
in a certain order, and standing in other relations to one
another ; and we can alter the form of a sentence by merely
changing the order of the words of which it is made up, as
in the boy helped the man. The study of the formal side of
language is based on phonetics — the science of speech-
sounds ; the study of the logical side of language is based on
psychology — the science of mind. But phonetics and
§ 1 8.] GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE. 7
psychology do not constitute the science of language, being
only preparations for it : language and grammar are con-
cerned not with form and meaning separately, but with the
connections between them, these being the real phenomena
of language.
PROVINCE OF GRAMMAR.
18. But it is only a part of these linguistic phenomena
that fall under the province of grammar. Grammar — like
other sciences — deals only with what can be brought under
general laws and stated in the form of general rules, and
ignores isolated phenomena. Thus grammar is not con-
cerned with the meanings of such primary words as man,
tree, good, grow, and relegates them to the collection of
isolated facts called the dictionary or lexicon, where they
constitute what we may call the lexical side of language.
But the processes by which words are joined together to
form sentences, the changes they undergo in these processes,
and the formation of new words by composition and deriva-
tion,— all this is the province of grammar as opposed to the
dictionary. Thus the fact that tree becomes trees when we
speak of more than one tree is a general one, for in English
the plural of nearly all names of things is formed in this way —
by the addition of s : the formation of the plural of nouns
is therefore a part of English grammar. So also if we have
once learnt to join the words tree and grow in such sentences
as the tree grows, trees grow, the trees are growing, we are
able to construct as many more sentences as we like on the
pattern of these, if we only know the words required to make
them up : the formation of sentences is therefore an essential
part of the grammar of all languages. The business of
the grammarian is to find out the general principles on which
such processes depend, and to frame a grammatical termino-
logy for stating these general principles in the form of
8 INTRODUCTION. [§ 19-
definite grammatical rules, such as 'the regular plural of
English nouns is formed by adding s.'
CONNECTION BETWEEN FORM AND MEANING IN GRAMMAR.
19. We have now to consider more closely the connection
between form and meaning in grammar. This connection is
often imperfect. Different grammatical functions are often
marked by the same form, as in tree-s and grow-s ; for the
s in trees has a totally different meaning from what it has in
grows. On the other hand we often find the same meaning
expressed by a variety of forms, as in the plurals trees, children,
men, the ' singulars ' of which are tree, child, man respectively.
Although there is no formal likeness whatever in these
plurals, yet they all not only mean exactly the same, but
are used to build up sentences in exactly the same way :
wherever in a sentence we put trees instead of tree, there also
we must put children instead of child, and men instead of
man — in other words, all these forms have exactly the same
grammatical function. So also the addition of -ed in I called
as distinguished from / call, the change of / hold into / held,
and the substitution of / went for 1 go, all mean exactly the
same thing — namely the change from preser t to past time.
ISOLATION ; IRREGULARITY.
20. We have seen that the phenomena of language are of
two kinds : those that can be brought under general rules,
and those that cannot (18). The only phenomena that can
be brought under general rules are those that have something
in common by which they are associated together in the
mind by the psychological process of group-association,
by which association-groups are formed. There are in
every language an endless number of these groups, and one
and the same word may belong to several such groups at
once. Thus the words trees, towns, boys form an association-
group through having the same ' inflection ' -s, and having
§ 23-] GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE. 9
the meaning ' more-than-oneness ' in common ; this group is
therefore both a formal and a logical one. The plurals trees,
children, men, on the other hand, constitute a logical, but not
a formal, group — as far, at least, as their inflection is con-
cerned— for they are associated together only by the meaning
of their endings. Tree, wood, forest, park, etc. are also asso-
ciated by their meaning only, but in a different way. We
see then that the single word tree can enter into at least three
different association-groups.
21. When a word stands outside an association-group, it
is said to be isolated. Thus, if we take away tree from the
group tree, wood, forest, etc., and put it with town and boy, it
is, as far as its meaning is concerned, no longer a member
of a group, but is isolated. But although the three words
tree, town, boy are isolated from one another in meaning, yet
the fact of their all being able to form plurals in -s — together
with other grammatical characteristics that they have in
common — makes them members of another group, which
we express grammatically by calling them all 'nouns/ or,
more generally, by saying that they all belong to the same
' part of speech.' It is easy to see from this last example
that there is no such thing as absolute isolation : every word
has something in common with some other word in the
language.
22. Hence when we speak of isolation, we generally mean
partial isolation. Thus the plural men forms part of the
group trees, towns, boys, etc. by virtue of its meaning, but
stands outside this group as far as its form is concerned.
23. When one and the same grammatical function is per-
formed by a variety of grammatical forms, that form which is
used in the greatest number of words is called the regular
form. Thus, as the majority of names of things in English
form their plurals by adding s, this is called the regular plural
ending. Those forms which are in the minority — such as*
the plural children — are called irregular forms or irregu-
10 INTRODUCTION. [§ 24.
larities. But although such an irregular inflection as the
-ren in children is so isolated in form that there is no other
word in which it occurs, it still forms part of the group con-
stituted by the whole body of English noun- plurals, both
regular and irregular, by virtue of its grammatical function.
But if every noun in English formed its plural in a different
way, so that we could not tell beforehand what its plural
would be, then such plurals as men and children could hardly
be called irregular, because there would be no general rule
to which they would be exceptions : they would, from a
grammatical point of view, be as completely isolated gram-
matically as the primary words tree, man, etc., are in meaning;
and the formation of the plural of nouns would belong rather
to the dictionary than to the grammar.
We see from such considerations that it is not always easy to
draw the line between what belongs to the grammar and what
belongs to the dictionary.
GRAMMATICAL AND LOGICAL CATEGORIES.
24. A group of grammatical forms expressing the same
meaning — having the same functions — constitutes a gram-
matical category. Thus the addition of -s in trees, of -ren
in children, and the change of a into e in men together
constitute — or help to constitute — the grammatical category
' plural of nouns,' which, again, falls under wider grammatical
categories, such as ' number ' (singular and plural number),
' inflection/ So also the inflections in / called, I held, etc.
constitute the grammatical category ' preterite tense of verbs/
25. Every grammatical category is the expression of some
general idea — some logical category. Thus the gram-
matical category ' plural ' expresses ' more-than-oneness/ and
therefore falls under the wider logical categories of ' number '
and ' quantity ' ; and the grammatical category ' tense ' cor-
responds to the logical category ' time/
§ 27. J GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE. II
DIVERGENCE BETWEEN GRAMMATICAL AND LOGICAL
CATEGORIES.
26. But in actual language — which is always an imperfect
instrument of thought — the grammatical and logical cate-
gories do not always exactly correspond to one another.
Thus in the word-group a ten pound note compared with ten
pounds, plurality is not expressed grammatically by any in-
flection of pound, but is left to be inferred from the meaning
of fen. In such a word-group as many a man, the divergence
between the grammatical and the corresponding logical
category is still stronger; for the word many shows that
' more than one ' is meant, and yet the combination a man
is the regular grammatical expression of 'oneness' or the
singular number.
27. For this reason it will be advisable to get clear notions
of the logical categories commonly expressed in language
before dealing with the corresponding grammatical cate-
gories— that is, to learn to distinguish between what we
say and how we say it. Under the head of logical
categories we will learn to regard words solely from the
logical point of view — to classify them entirely by the ideas
they express, making, for instance, no distinction between
a man in many a man and men in many men, but regarding
them both as expressions of the idea of ' more-than-oneness.'
Under the head of grammatical categories, on the other
hand, we will regard man, not only in one man but also in
many a man, as belonging to one and the same category of
' singular number/ although, of course, we shall point out
such divergences between form and meaning, and try to
explain the origin of them.
I 2 INTR OD UC TION. [§28.
LOGICAL CATEGORIES.
Ideas Expressed by Words.
SUBSTANCES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES.
28. The ideas of which thoughts are made up are con-
cerned mainly with substances (material things) and their
attributes. Substances are known to us solely by their
attributes, that is, the impressions these substances make on
our senses. Thus the substance 'gold* is known to us by
its attributes of ' hardness/ ' heaviness,' ' yellow colour/ etc.,
which together make up our idea of the substance 'gold.'
Such words as gold, man, house are, therefore, substance-
words ; such words as hard, hardness, heavy, heavily, weight,
yellow are attribute-words.
29. These last all express permanent attributes. There
are also changing attributes or phenomena. Thus ' man '
is known to us not only by a number of permanent attributes
— ' shape/ ' size/ etc., — but also by the phenomena ' move-
ment/ 'speech/ 'thought/ etc. Hence we call move, movement,
motion, speak, speaking, speech, think, thought, thoughtful,
thoughtfully, etc., phenomenon-words.
30. For convenience, words denoting permanent attributes
and those denoting changing attributes or phenomena, are
included under the common name abstract. Every word
which is not a substance-word must therefore be an abstract
word. In grammar substance-words are generally called
concrete. Thus gold is a concrete word.
* Concrete ' and ' abstract ' also have a totally different logical
meaning (39). In this — which is the original — sense of the
word, substance-words can be abstract as well as concrete.
RELATIONS BETWEEN SUBSTANCES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES.
31. It is evidently impossible to think of a substance with-
out thinking of its attributes. But it is equally impossible to
§34-1 LOGICAL CATEGORIES, 13
think of all these attributes at once. When we think of a
substance, we are reminded only of some — perhaps only one —
of its attributes ; and under different circumstances different
attributes become prominent in our minds. Thus in com-
paring ' hair ' to ' gold/ we think only of the colour of gold,
not of its hardness or weight.
32. It is equally evident that the only way in which we
can form an idea of any attribute, such as ' yellow/ is by
thinking of a number of yellow substances, such as ' gold/
' buttercups/ etc.
33. But it is easier to think of an attribute apart from
substances than it is to think of a substance apart from its
attributes. Phenomena are still more independent than
permanent attributes. Thus, although we know that without
something to burn — wood, coals, etc. — there can be no fire,
and that what we call electricity can only show itself in con-
nection with matter (substances), yet when we see a fire in
the distance, a .moving light, or a flash of lightning, we are
inclined to consider these phenomena as independent objects.
Among uncivilised races, indeed, such phenomena as fire
and electricity are regarded as living beings, and are even
worshipped as gods.
QUALIFIERS.
34. When we distinguish between a tall man and a short
man, tall and short are evidently attribute-words. But when
we distinguish between many men, all m%n, and some men or
few men, we cannot say that many, all, some, few are attribute-
words; they are only qualifiers. When we say some
Englishmen are tall, or many Englishmen are tall, the majority
of Englishmen are tall, Englishmen are mostly tall, the words
some, many, majority, mostly do not give us any information
about Englishmen: they merely qualify, or limit, or define
the idea expressed by Englishmen. Englishmen are tall by
itself might mean 'all Englishmen/ 'many Englishmen/ ' some
T4 INTRODUCTION. [§ 35.
Englishmen/ or * only a few Englishmen ' ; so we add
the words all, many, some, few, etc., to qualify the idea ex-
pressed by Englishmen. Attribute-words may be qualified
as well as substance- words. Thus very in a very strong man
qualifies the at tribute- word strong. Qualifiers themselves
may be qualified, as in very many Englishmen.
It is easy to distinguish between an attribute-word and a
qualifier by asking ourselves, Does this word, which at first
sight looks like an attribute-word, give us any direct informa-
tion about the word it is connected with ? Thus it is easy to
see that even in such a statement as we are seven, the word
seven does not really tell us anything about the persons desig-
nated by we, at least not in the same way as we are young, we
are English, etc. would. In many cases, indeed, a qualifier
cannot be used to make a statement with at all. Thus from
these tall men we can infer these men are tall, but we cannot
make some Englishmen into * Englishmen are some, or half the
island into *the island was half.
35. The qualifiers we have hitherto been, considering are
all quantitative words. There is another important class
of qualifiers called mark-words, which, as it were, put a
mark on the word they are associated with, singling it out
or pointing to it in various ways. Thus this and that, here
and there, as in this house, the man there, are mark-words of
place ; now, then are mark-words of time ; while such mark-
words as the point out an object in thought, as in give me the
book, meaning ' the book you know of,' ' the book we were
speaking about/ Some mark-words, instead of merely
qualifying a word, act as substitutes for it. Thus the mark-
word he may be used as a substitute for the words John, the
man, etc., and the mark-word it may be used as a substitute
for the book.
33. Attribute-words may be used as qualifiers. Thus
when we say give me that red book, not the blue one, although
red and blue give information about the two books, they are
not used for that purpose, but simply to distinguish between
§39-1 LOGICAL CATEGORIES. 15
the two books : red and blue are in fact here used as mark-
words, though they still preserve their full attributive mean-
ings. When attribute-words are used in this way, we call
them qualifying attribute- words.
GENERAL AND SPECIAL WORDS.
37. Some attributes are of more general application than
others. Thus there are more things that we can call red
than there are that we can call dark red <yc yellowish red, and
red itself falls under the still more general attribute colour.
So also the qualifiers many, few, some fall under the more
general category of quantity. The same gradations are
seen also in substance-words. Thus cast iron and wrought
iron go under iron ; iron, together with gold, silver, lead, etc.
goes under metal] and metal itself goes under mineral, and
so on.
38. The more special a word is, the more meaning it
has. Thus iron implies all the attributes implied by the
more general word metal, and, in addition, all the attributes
that distinguish iron from gold and the other metals.
39. Even if we confine ourselves to a single word, we can
make the same distinction. Thus the word man may suggest
the idea either of ' man in general/ as in man is mortal, or of
one particular man, as when we talk of this man or the man.
We call the former the generalizing (abstract), the latter
the specializing (concrete) use of the word man. The
specializing use evidently puts more meaning into the word :
the man not only implies all the attributes that men have in
common, but also implies further attributes by which we
distinguish ' the man ' from other men.
It must be observed that the logical and the grammatical
meanings of the terms abstract and concrete are distinct and
even contradictory. When we talk of ' man in the abstract ' we
are using abstract in its logical sense, while in grammar abstract
is a convenient means of including attributes and phenomena
1 6 INTRODUCTION. [§40.
under a common name (30). Hence in grammar it is best to
restrict these words to their grammatical meaning, using
generalizing and specializing to express their logical meaning.
Combination of Words to express Thoughts.
ADJUNCT-WORDS AND HEAD-WORDS.
40. The most general relation between words in sentences
from a logical point of view is that of adjunct-word and
head-word, or, as we may also express it, of modifier and
modified. Thus in the sentences tall men are not always
strong, all men are not strong, tall, strong, and all are adjunct-
words modifying the meaning of the head-word men. So
also dark, quick, quickly are adjunct-words in dark red, he has
a quick step, he walks quickly. Stone is an adjunct-word in
stone wall, wall of stone, because it modifies (defines) the
meaning of wall. So also book (books] is an adjunct-word in
book-seller, bookselling, sale of books, he sells books, he sold his
books, the corresponding head-words being seller •, selling, sale,
sells, sold.
41. The distinction between adjunct-word and head-word
is only a relative one : the same word may be a head-word
in one sentence or context, and an adjunct- word in another,
and the same word may even be a head-word and an adjunct-
word at the same time. Thus in he is very strong, strong is
an adjunct-word to he, and at the same time head-word to
the adjunct- word very, which, again, may itself be a head-
word, as in he is not very strong.
SUBJECT AND PREDICATE.
42. As we have seen (16), such a thought as 'the earth
is round ' is made up of the two ideas ' the earth ' and ' round '
or ' roundness.' All thoughts require at least two ideas : (a)
what we think of, called the subject — in this case ' the earth/
and (d) what we think concerning it, called the predicate,
§44-1 LOGICAL CATEGORIES. 17
namely that it is ' round/ or has the attribute of ' roundness.'
Hence in such a sentence as the earth is round, we call earth
a subject-word, round a predicate-word. In this example
the predicate-word — or predicate, as we may call it for the
sake of shortness — is an attribute-word; but the predicate
may be also a qualifier, as in he is here, we are seven.
43. Subject and predicate may be joined together in
various ways. In the above example the connection between
them is affirmed (stated as a fact) — such a sentence as the
earth is round being therefore called an ' affirmative ' sentence;
but it may also be stated doubtfully, as in perhaps the earth is
round, or denied, as in the earth is not flat, and the relation
between subject and predicate may be modified in various
other ways.
ASSUMPTION.
44. If instead of stating some attribute or qualification
about the subject, we take it for granted, as in —
For so the whole round earth is every way
bound by gold chains about the feet of God^
(TENNYSON)
the predicate becomes an assumptive (commonly called
'attributive'), and the word round — as also whole — is said to
be used assumptively (attributively). From such a collocation
as the round earth we can infer the statement the earth is
round. Thus assumption may be regarded as implied or
latent predication, and predication itself may be regarded as
strengthened or developed assumption.
Assumption is generally called * attribution ' in grammars ;
but this term is objectionable because it is liable to cause con-
fusion with the logical term ' attribute.'
It is easy to see that every assumptive word must be an
adjunct-word as well as every predicate, just as every subject-
word must be a head-word. But every adjunct-word is not
necessarily an assumptive, for in grammar we use this term in
contrast with ' predicative,' so that when we call a word
VOL. i. c
1 8 INTR OD UC TION. [§ 45 .
'assumptive,' we generally imply that it can be used also as
a predicate. Thus the and very in the earth, very good are
adjunct- words, but there would be no object in calling them
assumptives. But in grammar such qualifying words as whole,
all, seven are said to be used attributively in such word-groups
as the whole earth, all men, seven men ; for although we cannot
make all men into the statement *men are all, we can make the
statement we are seven, there are seven of us, and, besides, we
feel that all men is analogous to good men, etc.
SUBORDINATION AND COORDINATION.
45. The relation of adjunct-word to head- word is one of
subordination. But ideas can also be connected together
with little or no subordination of one to the other — they can
stand in a coordinate relation to one another. Thus in
you and I will be there before the others, we cannot say that
either of the two words connected by and is subordinated to
the other : we do not necessarily think of ' you ' first and
then join ' I ' on to it, but we think of the two simultaneously,
just as we should do if we expressed the idea of * you and I '
by the single word we. You and / in the above sentence
are also coordinate through having the same predicate in
common.
46. Even in predication the subordination to the subject-
word is often very slight, for although the subject is generally
more prominent in our minds than the predicate, the union
of subject and predicate in thought is instantaneous, and if
the two are of nearly equal importance, it may sometimes be
almost a matter of indifference which idea is regarded as
subject, and which as predicate. Thus it does not matter
much whether we say the first day of the week is Sunday, or
Sunday is the first day of the week, just as in numbering the
days of the week we might write either i Sunday, 2 Monday,
etc., or Sunday i, Monday 2, etc.
47. So also there are degrees of subordination of assump-
tives to their head-words.
§5i.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 19
When an assumptive is, as it were, detached from its head-
word—as in Alfred, king of England, compared with king
Alfred, where king is entirely subordinate — it is said to be in
apposition to it. (90.)
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES.
48. The most general classification according to gram-
matical categories is into words, word-groups, and
sentences.
49. Sentences are made up of words, but we speak in
sentences, not words, although it may happen that a sentence
is made up of a single word. A sentence is a word or com-
bination of words capable of expressing a thought, that is, a
combination of a logical predicate with a logical subject (42).
Thus cornel, he went away are both sentences. When a
sentence is expressed by a single word, as in the case of
come /, the word is called a sentence-word. When two
or more sentences are joined together to express a single
complete thought, they constitute a complex sentence, the
simple sentences of which the complex sentence is made up
being called clauses. Thus the complex sentence if you
are right, I am wrong is made up of the two clauses if you
are right and / am wrong.
50. When words are joined together grammatically and
logically without forming a full sentence, we call the com-
bination a word-group. Thus man of honour, the roundness
of the earth, the round earth, going away, his going away are
word-groups.
When words come together without there being any special
connection between them, they may be said to constitute a
wor d- colloc ation .
Words.
51. In a continuous discourse there is no separation
between the words, except where we pause to take breath, or
C 2
20 INTRODUCTION. [§52.
for emphasis : the words of a sentence are run together ex-
actly in the same way as the syllables of a word are. Thus
f in ordinary pronunciation the two words of the sentence tell
her I are run together exactly in the same way as the two
syllables of the word teller, the two groups being identical in
sound — (teb). Until we know the meaning of (teb) — which
we cannot do without a sufficient context — we not only
cannot divide it into words, but we cannot even tell whether
it is one word or two words.
52. A word may be defined as an ultimate independent
sense-unit. A sentence such as cats catch mice is an inde-
pendent sense-unit, but it is not an ultimate one, for it can
be subdivided into the smaller independent sense-units cats
(or cat}, catch, mice. We call such a sound-group as cat an
ultimate sense-unit because it cannot be divided into lesser
sense-units. We call arbitrary an ultimate sense-unit for the
same reason; for arbi and trary by themselves make non-
sense. Such a sound-group as tripod is also an ultimate
sense-unit, because, although its two syllables tri (trai) and
pod are by themselves real sense-units, yet their meaning has
no connection with that of tripod itself. Cat, arbitrary,
tripod are further independent sense-units : they can stand
anywhere in a sentence, and enter into any combinations
with other words that are not contrary to their meaning and
the principles of English grammar
The inflected word cats can be divided into cat-s, but the
second element, though it has the definite meaning of plurality,
is not an independent sense-unit, and the connection between
cats and the uninflected cat is so intimate that we cannot regard
the two as distinct words. Besides, such a plural as mice
cannot possibly be divided into two sense-units.
53. By form words are distinguished by the different
sounds of which they are made up, by the different order
of these sounds (tip, pit), by their length —especially as
§57-] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 21
measured by the number of syllables, and by stress (^abstract,
to abstract), and intonation.
Although, as we have seen (51), there is no necessary sepa-
ration of words in sentences, yet in all languages words are to
some extent marked off by their form, Thus in some languages
the stress is always on the first syllable of a polysyllabic word,
so that a strong stress always shows the beginning of a new
word, just as a louder note in music shows the beginning of a
bar. And in all languages certain sounds and certain sound-
groups occur only in certain positions. Thus in English, when-
ever we hear the sound (n) — as in king (kiij), we know that it
cannot form the beginning of a word.
54. A word may occur in more than one form. Thus
in English we have the distinction between emphatic (hiz),
as in // is his, not hers, and unemphatic (iz), as in it is his
own. In such cases we do not regard the two forms as
different words, being, indeed, generally insensible of the
difference between them. Such pairs are called doublets.
If a pair of doublets diverge in meaning as well as form, so
that the gap between them cannot be bridged over without the
help of historical grammar, then we feel them to be distinct
words, as in the case of 0/"and off, which were originally both
modifications of Old English of.
55. It sometimes happens that a word has a different
form when it is absolute — that is, stands alone — from what
it has when it is conjoint — that is, grammatically associated
with another word. Thus we have the absolute form mine,
as in it is mine, corresponding to the conjoint form my, as
in // is my book.
56. If, on the other hand, the same combination of
sounds expresses several distinct meanings which cannot be
associated together, as in bear (the animal) and to bear, then
we feel the two sound-combinations to be distinct words,
for in language we cannot go by form alone, apart from
meaning. Such pairs are called homonyms.
57. When we call words ultimate sense-units, we do not
22 INTRODUCTION. [§ 58.
imply that they represent ultimate ideas. On the contrary,
many words — indeed most words — express a good many
ideas at once. Such a word as rain, for instance, contains
in itself the elements of a sentence, though of course not put
in the form of a statement: rain means roughly speaking
' drops of water falling from the sky/ Such a word as baker
is still more complex : it implies selling as well as making
bread, biscuits, buns, and other food of the same kind. In
fact, we put ideas into words not because of their simplicity
or primitiveness, but because of their importance to us ; and
whenever it is convenient to express a group of ideas by a
single word, language generally finds the means to do so.
FORM-WORDS.
58. In such a sentence as the earth is round, we have no
difficulty in recognising earth and round as ultimate indepen-
dent sense-units expressing the two essential elements of every
thought — subject and predicate. Such words as the and is,
on the other hand, though independent in form, are not
independent in meaning: the and is by themselves do not
convey any ideas, as earth and round do. We call such words
as the and is form-words, because they are words in form
only. When a form-word is entirely devoid of meaning,
we may call it an empty word, as opposed to full words
such as earth and round. It is easy to see that the and is in
the earth is round belong to this class of form-words.
Although is sometimes has the independent meaning
'existence/ as in Troy is no more, it is easy to see that in
the earth is round it has no meaning of its own, and serves
only to show that the word which follows it — namely round
—is a predicate, or, in other words, it serves to connect
subject and predicate. We see then that is, though it has
no independent meaning, has a definite grammatical function
— it is a grammatical form-word. The in the earth, on the
other hand, has not even a grammatical function, and serves
§ 6i.] GRAMMA TICAL CA TEGORIES. 23
only to show that earth is to be taken in the sense of ' terres-
trial globe,' and not in that of ' mould,' which it might
otherwise have; so that although formally independent of
earth— for we can put another word between them, as in the
ivhole earth — it is, logically speaking, almost a part of it, as
if it were a derivative prefix, like the un- in unknown (69).
59. It often happens that a word combines the function
of a form-word with something of the independent meaning
of a full word. Become, as in he became prime minister, is an
example of such a ' full form-word/ for it combines the full
meaning ' change ' with the grammatical function of the form-
word is : he became means ' he changed his condition/ and
the full sentence implies ' he is (was) prime minister/
60. In most languages there is a natural tendency to
subordinate form-words to full words in stress. This is
especially the case in English. Thus in the earth is round
(-"Si '3d]> -iz -raund) we have two full words with strong stress,
and two form-words with weak stress; and, as we see in
such a sentence as Troy 'is no more (58), is itself has a
strong stress when it has a full meaning.
61. Another practical test of form-words is that they may
often be omitted with a slight change in the form of the
sentence — sometimes without any change at all — or in
translating into some other language. Thus the form-
word of in man of honour is omitted in the synonymous
expression honourable man, and the earth is round may be
expressed in Latin by terra rotunda, literally 'earth round/
where both form-words are omitted. So also some in -some
people think differently, being a full word has strong stress and
cannot be omitted ; while in give me some more bread it has
weak stress, and might be omitted without loss of clear-
ness, being here used as a form-word like the French du,
literally 'of the/ in du pain 'some bread/ 'bread.'
Even such words as piece and htmp are used nearly as form-
words in such groups as a piece of 'bread, a lump of 'lead,
24 INTRODUCTION. [§ 62.
as is shown by their diminished stress, and by their having
practically almost the same meaning as the weak some in some
'bread.
It will, of course, be understood that it is not always easy —
or even possible — to draw a definite line between full words and
form-words.
Word-formation.
62. We have hitherto confined our attention to simple
words, that is, words which in their uninflected form cannot
be divided into lesser sense-units. But there are also com-
plex words, which can be divided in this way. Complex
words are of two kinds, (a) compound words or compounds,
such as blackbird, formed by composition, and (£) derived
words or derivatives, such as unknown, keeper, formed by
derivation, that is, by adding derivative elements, such as
un-, -er. Composition and derivation are included under
the common designation of word-formation or word-forming
processes.
COMPOSITION.
63. A compound is a combination of two words equiva-
lent formally and logically to a simple word. Thus in the
compound word blackbird the elements of the compound —
the words of which it is made up — are as distinct as in the
word-group black bird', but apart from this, blackbird is as
much a single, indivisible word as the monosyllabic word
swan compared with such a word-group as white bird.
64. The formal distinction between a compound and a
word-group evidently is that in a compound the elements are
associated more closely together. Just as in the simple word
tripod the two syllables tri and pod are inseparable from one
another, and follow one another in a fixed order, so also the
elements of blackbird are inseparable from one another and
follow one another in an absolutely fixed order. Just as
tripod forms its plural tripods, so also such compounds as
§67.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 25
blackbird, hatbox, form their plurals blackbirds, hatboxes, the
first elements of these compounds being as incapable of
change of form as the first syllable of tripod itself. But such
a word-group as a box for a hat can be freely altered not
only into a box for hats, but also into boxes for hats ; and
the elements of the word-group a black bird may be modified
and separated in various ways, as in so black a bird, the black-
est bird, birds black and white.
65. The formal unity of a compound is often further
strengthened by its having only one strong stress. Thus, just
as the single strong stress in the simple word 'tripod makes
us feel that it is a single, indivisible word, so also the single
stress in -blackbird makes us feel that it is a single, indivisible
word as opposed to the group 'black 'bird, in which both
syllables have the same strong stress.
But unity of stress by itself is not enough to constitute a
compound ; thus in the group the man there is only one strong
stress, and yet we cannot call this group a compound, because
of its separability and want of isolation.
66. We may sum up the formal characteristics of com-
pounds by saying that they imply formal isolation : the
elements of a compound are brought into such close con-
nection with one another that they are isolated from the
other words of the sentence in which they occur.
67. Hence a compound word is not only inflected like a
simple word, but is capable of entering into fresh com-
pounds, and of taking derivative elements. Thus the com-
pound midship and the simple word man are combined
together in the compound midship-man. We call such com-
pounds secondary compounds, as opposed to primary
compounds, such as blackbird. From the compound
moonlight the derivative moonlight-er is formed.
In such compounds as firelighter the -er is not a derivative
ending added to the whole compound, but the compound is
made up ofjire and the already derived word lighter.
36 INTRODUCTION. (_§ 68-
68. It is evident that compounds must have special
meanings of their own, for otherwise there would be no
object in distinguishing them from word-groups — in distin-
guishing, for instance, between -blackbird and -black -bird.
Hence we find that while the meaning of such a word-
group as black bird is inferred as a matter of course from
the meanings of the separate words of which it is made up,
this is not the case with a compound such as blackbird-.
there is, for instance, nothing in the meaning of the words
black and bird to tell us that a blackbird is a bird with a
yellow beak. Blackbird is, therefore, to some extent, an
ultimate sense-unit ; and yet it consists of two words, each
having an independent meaning of its own, the meaning of
both words entering into that of the compound formed by
them. We may express this in other words by saying that
the meaning of a compound is isolated from the meanings of
its elements.
Logical, without formal, isolation is not enough to constitute
a compound. The meaning of such a sentence as how do you
do f cannot be fully inferred from the meanings of the words of
which it is made up ; and yet we do not call this group a com-
pound, because it does not differ formally from any other
sentence made up of independent words and capable of various
modifications of form. Again, although The Red Sea means
one particular sea— the meaning of the combination being
therefore strongly isolated — yet as the group does not differ
grammatically in any way from the black bird and other groups
in which there is no logical isolation, we cannot call it a
compound.
But there is a class of combinations called group-compounds
(440), which are really intermediate between true compounds
and word-groups.
DERIVATION.
69. Such a derivative element as un- in un- known is an
ultimate sense-unit with a very definite meaning, being so far
on a level with the word not. But it is not independent ; for
§72.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. <2J
while not can stand alone, and can be put before any word
with which the general rules of English grammar allow it to
be associated, un- cannot stand alone, and can be used only
with certain words ; thus we cannot form such derivatives as
*unwhite, *unrdigiotis, answering to the word-groups not while,
not religious, although there is nothing in the rules of English
grammar to forbid such combinations.
70. When a derivative element comes before the body of
the word, it is called a prefix ; when it comes after it, it is
called a suffix or ending. Thus un- and be- in unknown
and become are prefixes, -er and -ness in keeper and goodness
are suffixes.
71. Derivation is sometimes accompanied by sound-
change, as in national (naejanal) from nation (neijan), breadth
from broad compared with truth from true. Sometimes
a process analogous to derivation is carried on by sound-
change alone, without the addition of any derivative element,
as in to fill from full, compared with to gladden from glad.
Derivation by sound-change alone can generally be traced
back to an earlier stage of derivation by sound-change and
addition together, which, again, is a later stage of derivation
by addition alone. Thus the difference between national and
nation in Present English is the result of the earlier English
tendency to shorten the vowels in the first syllables of longer
words.
72. Derivation, being a process for forming new words,
necessarily alters the meaning of the derived word. The
meanings of derivative elements are often vague and irregu-
lar. Thus it is not easy to see much community of meaning
in the prefix be- in such words as become, befall, beset, nor
between the complex become and the simple come. The suffix
-ness in goodness, badness, redness, etc. is an example of a
derivative which is much more regular in its meaning, but
even here we should not be able to infer the meaning of
business from that of busy.
28 INTRODUCTION. [§73.
Inflections.
73. By inflection we understand an addition to a whole
class of words expressing some grammatical function, or a
meaning so general as not to constitute a new word. Thus
the inflection -.$• is added to tree, etc. to express the meaning
of plurality, this meaning being so general a one that we
feel trees to be essentially the same word as the uninflected
singular tree. So also the preterite inflection -ed is added to
call, live, stop, etc. to express past time; and the genitive
inflection -s — which is distinct in meaning and origin from
the plural inflection — has the grammatical function of making
such words as tree, day, etc. into a particular class of adjunct-
words, and thus of connecting words together in sentences,
as in a day's journey, where days defines Journey in the same
way as long in a long journey.
As words are always liable to develop a variety of meanings,
it sometimes happens that the plural of a word has a different
meaning from the singular, as in sands — l sandy shore of the
sea ' compared with sand. But such changes of meaning are
secondary ones, which took place after the formation of the
plural, and with which the inflection had o-iginally nothing
to do.
74. Inflection by addition is, like derivation, sometimes
initial — at the beginning of the uninflected word, or base —
but generally final — at the end of the base. We have an
example of initial inflection in the augment of the Greek
verb, which expresses past time, as in e'-lupton 'I was striking '
compared with the present tupto 'I strike,' and the German
and Old English ge- by which these languages mark the
preterite participles of verbs, as in German gemacht, Old
English gemacod ' made/ from German machen, Old English
macian ( to make.' As inflection is mainly final in English
and the other languages cognate with it, initial inflection in
§78.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 29
these languages is generally accompanied by final inflection —
e'-tupt-on, ge-mac-od. Hence there is a tendency to restrict
the term ' inflection ' to final additions to a word, and to
regard ge- etc. as derivative prefixes.
75. Inflection is often accompanied by sound-change, as
in the plural leaves from leaf, preterite ihough-t from think.
Sometimes inflection is effected entirely by sound-change,
as in men from man, saw from see.
As in derivation, the forms with sound-change are generally
of later origin.
76. Sometimes an inflectional function is performed by a
variety of distinct forms, as in the plurals trees, children, men,
and the preterites called, thought, saw, held. As the change of
child into children and of man into men has exactly the same
meaning as that of tree into trees , we do not hesitate to
regard all these changes as constituting one and the same
inflection, however distinct they may be in origin, and so
also with the preterites called, thought, etc. It sometimes
even happens that different words stand in an inflectional
relation to one another, with or without the help of inflection.
Thus went, was stand in the same relation to goes, is as
called, saw to calls, sees ; and the uninflected me stands in the
same relation to / as the inflected hi-m does to he. Here,
again, we do not hesitate to call went the preterite of go, and
me the objective case of /.
77. The absence of inflection — negative inflection —
often has the same function as positive inflection. Thus
the absence of the plural inflection -s in tree expresses the
singular number.
78. Inflections have the same grammatical functions as
form-words. Thus the genitive inflection -s in a days work
has exactly the same function as the form-word of in the
work of a lifetime.
30 INTRODUCTION. [§ 79.
When a form- word is much shortened, it may become pho-
netically indistinguishable from an inflection, as in John is here
(d.^onz hi3\ where the (z) is, phonetically speaking, as much
a part of the preceding word as the genitive -s in John's book
(d^onz bnk). But we can easily see that in John is here the (z)
is an independent word in spite of its shortness, by trans-
posing it in such a sentence as here is John (hiaz d^on), the in-
flectional -s in John's book being, on the other hand, absolutely
inseparable from its base.
79. Inflection is very similar to derivation, not only in
form, but also, in some cases, in meaning. Thus although
the plural inflection in such a word as trees only adds to the
meaning of tree without otherwise altering it, yet trees may to
some extent be regarded as a new word — as approximating
in meaning to such words as forest and park. In fact
modern English does treat plurals of nouns to some extent
as if they were new words ; for just as man has a genitive
man's, so also the plural men has a genitive men's, as if it
were an independent word.
80. Conversely, there are some derivative elements which
are very similar to inflections. Thus the change of white
into whiteness, good into goodness, etc., can hardly be said to
form a new word, for it comes to the same tiling whether we
say snow is white or snow has the attribute of whiteness. In
fact, the only use of the change of white into whiteness is to
give greater freedom in the use of the word in sentences.
But, on the other hand, in such derivatives as business, his
Highness, there is a considerable change of meaning, really
amounting to the formation of a new word.
Kelations between Words.
81. There are five ways of indicating the relations between
words in word-groups and sentences : (a) word-order, or posi-
tion, ($} stress, (<r) intonation, (d) the use of form-words, and
(e) inflection.
§85.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 31
82. The simplest and most abstract way of showing the
relations between words is by their order. We see how the
meaning of a sentence may depend on the order of its words
by comparing the man helped the boy with the boy helped the
man, where the distinction between subject and adjunct to the
predicate depends entirely on the word-order.
83. We can see how stress alters the meaning of a sen-
tence by comparing that is -my book with that is 'my book ;
the latter really means 'it is my book and not some one
else's/
84. We can see how intonation shows the relation be-
tween words by comparing a sentence such zsyou are ready ?',
uttered with a rising tone, with the same sentence uttered with
the falling tone of such a sentence as / am ready. While
the falling tone expresses statement, the rising tone expresses
question, so that the rising tone in you are ready' has the
same meaning as the change of word-order in are you ready ?
The above are examples of sentence-stress and sentence-
intonation as distinguished from word-stress and word-
intonation. English uses both sentence-stress and word-stress
to express differences of meaning (the latter in such pairs as
'abstract and to abstract], while intonation is used in English
only to modify the meaning of sentences. Word-intonation
occurs in many foreign languages, such as Old Greek and
Chinese (the ' Chinese tones '), where it is used to distinguish
the meanings of separate words. Thus in Old Greek oikoi ( at
home' and oikoi 'houses' were distinguished solely by their
intonation, both words having the same sounds and the same
strong stress on the first syllable.
85. Stress and intonation, however, have not much in-
fluence on the grammatical structure of sentences, sentence-
stress being used mostly for emphasis, and intonation to
express shades of feeling, such as curiosity, dogmatism, con-
tempt, though, as we have seen, it is also used to express
purely logical meanings such as question. Variations of
stress and intonation are also limited in number. The
32 INTRODUCTION. [§ 86.
distinctions that can- be made by word-order are still more
limited, so that if a language depended entirely on word-
order to show grammatical relations, it would have to use
the same word-order to express a great variety of different
meanings. Hence no language can rely exclusively on these
three, but requires the help either of form-words or inflec-
tions, which afford as many grammatical distinctions as are
necessary.
86. The nature of form-words and inflections has been
already explained. Some languages, such as Chinese, show
grammatical relations entirely by means of word-order and
form- words. Others, such as Latin, rely mainly on inflec-
tions, though they use many form- words as well, with which,
indeed, no language can dispense. We call such a language
as Chinese an isolating language as distinguished from an
inflectional language such as Latin. English is mainly an
isolating language which has preserved a few inflections.
The classification of languages according to their structure,
without regard to their relationship, is called the morpho-
logical, as opposed to the genealogical classification. English
and Latin are genealogically related by being both members of
the Arian family of languages, but they differ widely morpho-
logically. English and Chinese, on the other hand, show great
morphological resemblance without being in any way genea-
logically related.
87. We have now to consider how these means of gram-
matical expression, especially word-order, form-words, and
inflections, are used in language to express logical relations.
88. The first main division is that of modifying and
connective. The in the earth is a modifying form-word ; is,
and in the earth is round, you and /, are connective form-
words. So also the plural inflection in trees is modifying,
while the genitive inflection in a days work is connective. A
modifying form requires only one word to make sense (the
earth, tree-s), while a connective form requires two words to
§9L] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 33
make sense (you and I, a day-s work}. The relations between
words in sentences are therefore shown mainly by connectives,
while modifiers have almost the function of word-formers (58).
89. When two words are associated together grammati-
cally, their relation may be one either of coordination or of
subordination (45). Coordination is shown either by
word-order only, or by the use of form-words, as in men,
women, and children, where the first two full- words are con-
nected only by their position, while the last two are connected
by the form- word and.
90. Subordination implies the relation of head-word and
adjunct-word (40). But there are degrees of subordi-
nation. When the subordination of an assumptive (attribu-
tive) word to its head- word is so slight that the two are
almost coordinate, the adjunct-word is said to be in apposi-
tion to its head- word. Thus in king Alfred the adjunct-
word is a pure assumptive — as much so as good in the good
king — and has the usual position of an assumptive word in
English, that is, before its head-word, while in Alfred the king
or Alfred, king of England, it stands in apposition to its
head-word in a different position and in a more independent
relation.
91. In the above examples the relation between head-word
and adjunct-word is only vaguely indicated by position, being
mainly inferred from the meaning of the words. But in such
a sentence as / bought these books at Mr. Smith's the book-
seller s, the connection between the adjunct-words these and
booksellers and their head-words is shown by each adjunct-
word taking the inflection of its head-word. This repetition
of the inflection of a head-word in its adjunct-word is called
concord, and the two words are said to agree in whatever
grammatical form they have in common : the concord be-
tween these and books consists in their agreeing in number —
that is, in both having plural inflection ; and the concord be-
tween bookseller's and Smith's consists in their both having
VOL. I. D
34 INTRODUCTION. [§ 92.
the same genitive inflection. In such groups as green trees,
the trees became green, there is no concord, as if we were to
say *this books instead of these books. In a highly inflected
concord-language such as Latin, green in the above examples
would take the plural inflection of trees just as much as this
would.
92. The concord-inflection of an adjunct-word is not only
logically superfluous, but often unmeaning. Thus it is
evident that the idea expressed by this and green does not
admit of plurality — for we cannot form an idea of 'more
than one this ' or of ' more than one greenness ' — and con-
sequently that the plural inflection of this in these trees is in
itself devoid of meaning. Such concord-inflections have
indeed only an indirect grammatical function, namely that
of indicating the connection between head-word and adjunct-
word: the plural inflection of this in these trees does not
modify its meaning in the slightest degree, but only serves to
connect it with another word having the same inflection,
namely trees.
93. When the relations between words are shown by
word-order, concord is not of much use, and consequently
is reduced to very narrow limits in such a language as
English. Conversely, in a highly inflectional language with a
highly developed system of concord, such as Latin, fixed
word-order is not required to show the grammatical relations
between words. Even in English we might put these and
trees far apart in a sentence and yet easily join them together
in thought by their having the same inflection. Hence in
such a language as Latin the word-order is much freer than
in English, the position of words being determined mainly by
considerations of emphasis and euphony.
94. When a word assumes a certain grammatical form
through being associated with another word, the modified
word is said to be governed by the other one, and the
governing word is said to govern the grammatical form in
§98.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 35
question. Thus in a days work, day's is governed by work,
and work itself is said to govern the genitive case. So also
in I see him. him is governed by see, and see is said to govern
the objective case him. In / thought of him, the form-word
<?/"also governs the objective case.
Parts of Speech.
95. As regards their function in the sentence, words fall
under certain classes called parts of speech, all the members
of each of these classes having certain formal characteristics
in common which distinguish them from the members of the
other classes. Each of these classes has a name of its own
— noun, adjective, verb, etc.
96. Thus, if we compare nouns, such as snow, tree, man,
with adjectives, such as big, white, green, and verbs, such as
melt, grow, speak, we shall find that all nouns whose meaning
admits of it agree in having plural inflections — generally
formed by adding s (trees]; that adjectives have no plural
inflections, but have degrees of comparison (big, bigger,
biggest] — which nouns and verbs have not ; that verbs have
inflections of their own distinct from those of the other parts
of speech (7 grow, he grows, grown) ; that each part of
speech has special form-words associated with it (a tree, the
tree ; to grow, is growing, has grown] ; and that each part of
speech has a more or less definite position in the sentence
with regard to other parts of speech (white snow, the snow
melts, the green tree, the tree is green).
97. If we examine the functions of these three classes,
we see at once that all verbs are predicative words — that they
state something about a subject- word, which is generally a
noun (the snow melts]; that adjectives are often used as
assumptive words (white snow], and so on.
98. If we examine the meanings of the words belonging
to the different parts of speech, we shall find that such nouns
D 2
36 INTRODUCTION. [§ 99.
as tree, snow, man, are all substance-words, while the adjec-
tives and verbs given above are all attribute- words, the
adjectives expressing permanent attributes, the verbs chang-
ing attributes or phenomena. We can easily see that there
is a natural connection between the functions and meanings
of these parts of speech. We see that the most natural way
of speaking of a substance is to imply or state some attribute
about it (white snow, the snow melts); and that permanent
attributes, such as ' whiteness/ can often be taken for granted,
while phenomena, such as ' melting,' being often sudden and
unexpected, require to be stated explicitly.
99. But this connection, though natural, is not necessary.
In language it is often necessary to state, as well as imply,
permanent attributes (the tree is green), and it is sometimes
convenient to make statements about attributes as well as
substances. Thus, instead of using the word white as a
means of implying something about snow or any other sub-
stance, we may wish to state or imply something about the
attribute itself, as when we say whiteness is an attribute of
snow, or talk of the dazzling whiteness of the snow. It is easy
to see that there is no difference of meaning between white-
ness is an attribute of snow and snow is white \ the difference
between white and the noun whiteness is purely formal and
functional — grammatical, not logical.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
100. The parts of speech in inflectional languages are
divided into two main groups, declinable, that is, capable of
inflection, and indeclinable, that is, incapable of inflection.
101. The declinable parts of speech fall under the three
main divisions, nouns, adjectives, and verbs, which have
been already described. Pronouns are a special class of
nouns and adjectives, and are accordingly distinguished as
noun-pronouns, such as 1, they, and adjective-pronouns,
such as my and that in my book, that man. Numerals are
§ io3.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 37
another special class of nouns and adjectives : three in three
of us is a noun-numeral, in three men an adjective-
numeral. Verbals are a class of words intermediate
between verbs on the one hand and nouns and adjectives on
the other : they do not express predication, but keep all the
other meanings and grammatical functions of the verbs from
which they are formed. Noun-verbals comprise infini-
tives, such as go in / will go, I wish to go, and gerunds,
such as going in / think of going. Adjective- verbals com-
prise various participles, such as melting and melted in melt-
ing snow, the snow is melted.
102. Indeclinable words or particles comprise adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. The main
function of adverbs, such as quickly and very, is to serve as
adjunct-words to verbs and to other particles, as in the snow
melted quickly, very quickly. Prepositions, such as of, are
joined to nouns to make them into adjunct-words, as in man
of honour, where of honour is equivalent to the adjective
honourable. Conjunctions, such as if, are used mainly
to show the connection between sentences, as in if you do so,
you will repent it. Interjections, such as ah ! alas /, are
sentence-words (49) expressing various emotions.
103. For convenience we include nouns in the limited
sense of the word, noun-pronouns, noun-numerals and
gerunds under the common designation noun-word.
So also we include adjectives, adjective-pronouns, adjective-
numerals and participles under the common designation
adjective-word.
The term ' verb ' is sometimes used to include the verbals,
sometimes to exclude them. When necessary, the predica-
tive forms of the verb as opposed to the verbals are included
under the term finite verb : thus in / think of going, think
is a finite verb as opposed to the verbal (gerund) going,
although both are included under the term ' verb ' in its wider
sense.
3# INTRODUCTION. [§ 104.
104. The following is, then, our classification of the parts
of speech in English :
noun-words : noun, noun-pronoun, noun-
numeral, infinitive, gerund.
/ adjective- words : adjective, adjective-pro-
noun, adjective-numeral, participles.
verb : finite verb, verbals (infinitive, gerund,
participles).
indeclinable (particles) : adverb, preposition, conjunction,
interjection.
The distinction between the two classes which for convenience
we distinguish as declinable and indeclinable parts of speech is
not entirely dependent on the presence or absence of inflection,
but really goes deeper, corresponding, to some extent, to the
distinction between head- word and adjunct- word. The great
majority of the particles are used only as adjunct-words, many
of them being only form-words, while the noun-words, adjective-
words and verbs generally stand to the particles in the relation
of head- words.
CONVERSION OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
105. When we talk of the whiteness of the snow instead of
saying the snow is white, we make the adjective white into the
noun whiteness by adding the derivative ending -ness. But
in English, as in many other languages, we can often con-
vert a word, that is, make it into another part of speech
without any modification or addition, except, of course, the
necessary change of inflection, etc. Thus we can make the
verb walk in he walks into a noun by simply giving it the
same formal characteristics as other nouns, as in he took a
walk, three different walks of life. We call walk in these two
collocations a converted noun, meaning a word which has
been made into a noun by conversion.
Conversion bears some resemblance to derivation, although
the mere change of a verb into a noun can hardly be said to
make a new word of it.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 39
But although conversion does not involve any alteration in
the meaning of a word, yet the use of a word as a different part
of speech naturally leads to divergence of meaning. There is,
for instance, in nouns a natural tendency to develop a concrete
meaning (98). Thus, while the noun walk in the examples
given above keeps the abstract meaning of the verb from which
it is formed — although there is a slight change of meaning in
the second example — it has assumed a concrete meaning in
gravel walk— a. meaning which cuts it off both from the verb
to walk and the abstract noun walk.
106. The test of conversion is that the converted word
adopts all the formal characteristics (inflection, etc.) of the
part of speech it has been made into. Thus walk in he took
a walk is a noun because it takes the form-word the before it,
because it can take a plural ending -s, and so on. The
question, which part of speech a word belongs to is thus one
of form, not of meaning. The nouns in silk thread, gold
watch are used as attribute-words very much as the adjective
silken, but nevertheless they are not adjectives in the above
collocations : we could not say *very silk, *more silk, as we
could say very silken, more silken ; in fact more silk by itself
would suggest a totally different idea, namely that of 'a larger
quantity of silk.'
107. But there are cases of partial conversion, in which
a word really partakes of the formal peculiarities of two
different parts of speech. Thus in the good are happy, good
takes the form-word the before it like a noun, and stands as
the subject of a sentence like a noun, and yet in its want of
plural inflection it is an adjective, not a noun. Goods in
goods and chattels, on the other hand, shows complete conver-
sion of an adjective into a noun.
It is sometimes doubtful what part of speech a word belongs
to. The less marked the formal characteristics of a word, the
more difficult it is to settle what part of speech it belongs to.
Hence particles offer more difficulty than declinable words, as
we see in the difficulty of distinguishing between adverbs and
conjunctions. Hence also the more inflectional a language is,
40 INTRODUCTION. [§ 108.
the easier the discrimination of the parts of speech is. Thus in
English, where the adjective is nearly indeclinable, it is more
difficult to distinguish it from other parts of speech than in Latin.
Relations between Logical and Grammatical
Categories.
108. We have already seen that the correspondence
between words and the ideas they express is often imperfect
(26). Even when the grammatical and logical categories do
not directly contradict one another, the expression of ideas
in language may still be imperfect in various ways. Some-
times we express the same idea twice over, as in concord
(91), while sometimes we do not express it at all, but leave
it to be inferred from the context ; sometimes we have more
than one way of expressing the same idea; and sometimes
we can express an idea only imperfectly, or not at all.
It must not be assumed that defective correspondence between
logical and grammatical categories is necessarily injurious to
language considered as a means of expression. On the con-
trary, illogical and ungrammatical constructions often add greatly
to ease, and even to accuracy, of- expression (528).
FULLNESS OF EXPRESSION; ELLIPSE.
109. The two extremes as regards fullness of expression
are redundance on the one side, and ellipse on the other.
110. Redundance is easy to recognise, as in the phrase
/ will know the reason why=I will know the reason of it\
here the idea of ' reason ' is expressed twice over — by reason
itself and by why. The best example of grammatical redun-
dance is afforded by concord (91). From a logical point of
view there is redundance not only in such constructions as
these trees but also in two trees, ten trees, etc., where the
numeral by itself is enough to show plurality without the
noun-inflection.
111. The opposite phenomenon of ellipse offers more
difficulties. When there are two forms for expressing the
§ 1 1 2. J GRAMMA TICAL CA TEGORIES. 4 1
same idea, one shorter than the other, it is not always safe to
assume that the shorter form is an elliptical variation of the
longer one. Thus we cannot say that come ! is an elliptical
form of come thou ! : come thou ! is rather an extended or
redundant form of come! ; for, as the pronoun is really super-
fluous—commands being generally addressed to some one
person — come! is the normal form of expression. Such an
expression as the colloquial glad to hear it=I am glad to
hear it, is, on the other hand, really elliptical, partly because
the meaning is not clear without the pronoun /, but still
more because the fuller expression is more in harmony with
the principles of English grammar, and is in more frequent
use than the shorter one. The most unmistakeable ellipses ,
are those which give rise to grammatically impossible .
constructions. Thus he is stopping at his uncle's is elliptical
not so much because the missing word house after uncles
suggests itself without an effort, but because without it the
preposition at seems to govern the genitive case, which is im-
possible in English. In ellipse the addition of the missing
word must not involve any change of construction. Thus
this is mine cannot be expanded into *this is mine hat, etc.,
which shows that this is mine is not an elliptical form of this
is my hat, any more than the trees are green is an elliptical form
of the trees are green trees. Hence we cannot assume an
ellipse in the parallel construction this is his, although it can
be expanded without change into this is his hat, etc. From
this we can see that the practical rule is, never to assume an
ellipse unless it seems grammatically necessary.
112. What might at first sight seem to be ellipse is often a
different phenomenon, namely what we may call condensa-
tion. We have seen that in sentence-words subject and
predicate are expressed by one word (49). Now as such a
sentence-word as come ! is not either logically or historically
a shortened form of come thou /, it cannot be regarded as an
elliptical, but only as a condensed expression. We have another
42 INTRODUCTION. [§ 114.
kind of condensation in such a construction as what you say is
true, which is nearly equivalent to you say something which is
true. Here the word what does duty for two words at once :
it stands in one grammatical relation to say, and in another
to is. But it would not be good English to expand what you
say is true into *what you say, that is true. So there is no
ellipse in this case. All we can do is to acknowledge the
fact that in such sentences what unites the grammatical
functions of the two words something and which] and we do this
by calling it a ' condensed relative pronoun ' as opposed to
the ordinary relative pronoun which in something which is true.
UNIFORMITY OF EXPRESSION.
113. In a perfect language there would be one distinct
form, and only one, to express each separate grammatical
meaning. But this uniformity and simplicity of expression
is never carried out fully in any actual language. We have
already seen that in inflection the same grammatical function
is often discharged by a variety of distinct forms, and the
same form used to express a variety of distinct grammatical
functions (76). In languages of mixed morphological
structure, such as English, we find the same grammatical
relation expressed by different categories of grammatical
forms — sometimes by inflection, sometimes by form-words,
sometimes by word-order, as in a day's work, the work
of a life, night work — and the same grammatical rela-
tion is often shown by several grammatical forms at once.
Thus, while in the boy helped the man the different relations in
which the two nouns stand to the verb are shown by the
word-order only, the same relations between noun-pronouns,
as in he helped him, are shown by inflection as well as
word-order.
ADEQUACY OF EXPRESSION.
114. As regards adequacy, the expression of grammatical
categories may be imperfect, or wholly wanting. The gram-
§ii5.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 43
malical relations between words can be shown only imper-
fectly by word-order ; for as the number of different positions
a word can take in a sentence is necessarily limited, the
same position must be used to express a variety of gram-
matical relations, that is, if any great use is made of word-
order. Thus the nouns and pronouns coming after the verbs
in the following English sentences stand in various different
relations to those verbs : I saw a man ; he became a laivyer', they
gave him a house ; they made him a bishop. In such a language as
Latin the different relations in which these words stand would
be clearly shown by their inflection. In Latin, him in they
gave him a house would be put in the dative or 'indirect
object ' case, house in the accusative or ' direct object ' case.
In English the distinction between direct and indirect object
is expressed, not by inflection, but imperfectly by word-order,
the indirect coming before the direct object in such sentences
as that given above, although in some constructions the order
is reversed, as in give it me! We can distinguish between the
direct and the indirect object by the latter being able to take
the preposition to before it : they gave the house to him ; give
it to me! Hence, although it would be quite incorrect to
say that me in give it me ! is in the dative case, it is correct
to say that it stands in the dative or indirect object relation,
for in English we really have a feeling of this grammatical
relation, although we cannot express it very clearly.
115. So also, when we say that prepositions govern the
objective case in English, we mean that a pronoun such as /
or het when connected with a preposition, must be put in the
objective case me, him instead of the nominative /, he, as in
with me, to him. But as there is no distinction between
nominative and objective in nouns, we cannot say that the
nouns in with pleasure, to sea, are in the objective case, and
consequently it is hardly correct to say that they are governed
grammatically by these prepositions, although with me, etc.,
would justify us in saying that these nouns stand in the
44 INTRODUCTION. [§ 116.
objective relation, and we are tolerably certain that if English
nouns had distinct nominative and objective inflections they
would assume the latter inflection after prepositions. But the
logical connection between preposition and noun-word is
just as strong in with pleasure as in with me : with governs
pleasure logically just as much as it governs me. In you and I,
which means practically the same as you with me, there is no
grammatical government, and yet and may be said to govern
/ logically almost as much as with governs me. But it
will be most convenient to use ' government ' strictly in the
sense of grammatical government, and to express logical
government by the term modification. Thus we can say
that and inyou and I modifies 7, while with in with me both
modifies and governs me, government always implying modi-
fication as well.
DIVERGENCE BETWEEN LOGIC AND GRAMMAR;
ANTIGRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTIONS.
/ 116. If, in the divergence between logic and grammar,
logic triumphs over grammar, we have an antigrammatical
construction, as in the party were assembled, where a verb in the
plural (were] is associated with a noun in the singular (party)
against the grammatical principles of concord. From a
logical point of view there is no inconsistency in this, for
• party combines the idea of a single body of people with that
of the separate individuals of which it is composed.
117. Antigrammatical constructions are sometimes the
result of attraction, which is generally a purely mechanical
process, being the result of simple contiguity, by which a
word is made to agree with another word with which it would
otherwise not be connected grammatically, as in the opinion
of several eminent lawyers were in his favour, where were,
although grammatically connected with the singular noun
opinion, is put in the plural as if it were governed by lawyers.
118. Antigrammaticalness may lie not in any one con-
§120.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 45
struction, but in the relation between two or more construc-
tions. Thus in such a colloquial sentence as my friend,
when he heard it, he laughed, the beginning of the sentence
makes us expect laughed instead of he laughed, which again
makes us expect a different beginning: my friend heard it ;
when he heard it, he laughed. This want of grammatical
sequence we call anacoluthia, the construction itself being
called an anacoluthon or ' grammatical break.' Anacolu-
thia, then, consists in beginning with one grammatical con-
struction, and then changing to a different one, so that the
first half of the statement remains unfinished, the last half
being connected with it not grammatically but only logically.
Anacoluthia is the result either of forgetting the beginning of
the statement — that is, forgetting its grammatical form — or
of confusion of thought caused by a complex arrangement of
clauses. Thus the anacoluthia in the example given is the
result of my friend being separated from laughed by the
clause when he heard it', and if this clause is got out of the
way, there is no longer any inducement to make the con-
struction anacoluthic : my friend laughed when he heard it.
We have a more marked anacoluthon in the colloquial sen-
tence he is always polite to people he thinks he can get anything
out of them=.t\\Q grammatical sentence he is always polite to
people out of whom he thinks he can get anything, or he is
always polite to people when he thinks he can get anything
out of them.
119. When a grammatical construction misrepresents the
logical relations of the ideas expressed by it, it is said to be
antilogical.
120. The most frequent cause of antilogical constructions
is shifting. In such a sentence as the majority of English-
men are tall (or the majority of Englishmen are short) com-
pared with most Englishmen are tall, Englishmen are mostly
tall, we have shifting in its most rudimentary form, namely
46 INTRODUCTION. [§ 120.
shifting of prominence. It is evident that in the thought
expressed in different forms by these three sentences, the
prominent and logically important ideas are those of 'Eng-
lishmen ' and ' tall/ and that majority, most, mostly, all express
a mere qualification of the ideas expressed by the other two
words. In the last two sentences the logically prominent
words are made grammatically prominent as well — as far, at
least, as the rules of English grammar will allow — especially
in the last sentence, where the subject is put first in the
sentence. But in the first sentence not only are the logical
relations of head-word and adjunct-word reversed — the word
expressing the idea of * most ' being made a grammatical
head-word, to which the logical head-word is subordinated —
but the word which is the least important logically of all
three is put first and made the subject of the sentence.
Again, in these sentences the logical predicate is tall, for
' tallness ' is what we state about Englishmen. But from a
purely grammatical point of view tall cannot be a predicate-
word, for it is not a finite verb. If the term ' grammatical
predicate ' is to be restricted to a single word, the only word
in these sentences that can be called predicate is are, and tall
must be regarded as an adjunct to it, just as it is an adjunct
to grew in the boy grew tall. But as the verb to be is entirely
destitute of meaning in ordinary English (58), it is impossible
to regard are tall, even grammatically, as equivalent to 'exist
in a state of tallness ' or anything of the kind, so that the
only way of getting out of the difficulty is by regarding are
tall as a group-predicate, in which are is a kind of prefix to
make tall into a predicate. Are in are tall has, indeed, much
the same function as the -s in the boy grows tall, and just as
we regard the combination grow-s — and not the -s by itself
— as constituting the predicate, so also we are justified in
regarding the group are tall as the grammatical predicate.
So also in the ' group-verbs ' / am seeing, I have seen, I shall
have seen, compared with the simple verbs I see, 1 saw, what
§122.] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. 47
we may regard as the logical centre of gravity is shifted from
the verbs see, saw, to the verbals seeing, seen, and yet these
groups could not be used as predicates without the logically
insignificant form-words am, have, shall. We call the
logically prominent element of a group the nucleus. Thus
the nuclei of the groups the majority of Englishmen, I shall
have seen are Englishmen and seen. So also the nucleus of
the group a piece of bread is bread, for piece, although
grammatically the head-word of the group, is really little
more than a form-word not only logically, but also to some
extent formally — through its weak stress (61. 1). In this
case, then, the formal criteria may be said to contradict one
another.
121. It will be seen that we use the terms head-word,
subject, etc., both in a logical and a grammatical sense, dis-
tinguishing when necessary between logical and grammatical
head- word, etc. We are able to do this because most of the
distinctions expressed by these terms have no definite gram-
matical expression, a grammatical adjunct-word, for instance,
being represented by a variety of parts of speech, while dif-
ferent parts of speech share even in predication. Hence we
cannot recognise grammatical head-words, adjunct-words,
etc., mechanically by their form as we can recognise an
inflection or any other definite grammatical form. Such
inflections as the genitive case have grammatical functions
and often more or less definite meanings of their own, but
when we say that such a word as John's is in the genitive case,
we think more of the fact that it ends in s than of anything
else. This definiteness would be lost if we were to set up a
' logical genitive ' as opposed to a grammatical genitive, call-
ing for instance the group of John a logical .genitive. The
utmost we should allow ourselves would be to call of John a
' genitive-equivalent.'
122. We can observe a more marked kind of shifting in
the Latin laudatum iri ' to be about to be praised,' which
48 INTRODUCTION. [§ 123.
means, literally, ' to-be-gone to-praise ' instead of ' to-go to-
be-praised/
123. In language the logical connections between words
extend over a wider area than the purely grammatical ones.
Thus in such a sentence as I came home yesterday morning,
the grammatical predicate to / is came, home and yesterday
being grammatically connected with the predicate only, while
morning is an adjunct to yesterday only. But in thought yes-
terday is as much part of the predicate as came itself, came-
home-y ester day -morning being the logical predicate, which,
from a grammatical point of view may be regarded either as
an extended predicate or a group-predicate.
124. Hence such a sentence as I like boys when they are
quiet or I like quiet boys practically means * I like quietness '
as much as ' I like boys.' Such a sentence, indeed, as / like
boys to be quiet does not imply even the slightest liking for
boys, as the other sentences do. And yet in this last sen-
tence the only word that / like governs grammatically is
boys, to be quiet being only a grammatical adjunct to boys\
while from a logical point of view / like is connected directly
with to be quiet> to which boys is a logical adjunct, the sen-
tence being logically equivalent to ' I like quietness of boys.'
We may call this phenomenon ' indirect government.'
125. Grammatical and logical anomalies often arise
through the blending of two different constructions. Thus
in colloquial English the two constructions these things and
this kind of things have resulted in the blending these kind of
things. So also the plural themselves may be regarded as a
blending of himself and. ourselves.
§ i29,] NOUNS. 49
PARTS OF SPEECH IN DETAIL.
Nouns.
FORM.
Inflections.
126. The inflections of nouns in English are those of
number and case.
127. As regards number, most languages distinguish be-
tween singular and plural, some having a third number,
the dual. English has only singular (free), and plural (trees).
The singular expresses ' oneness/ or else leaves the number
indefinite, as in man is mortal, the lion is the king of beasts.
The dual expresses * twoness'; thus in such phrases as to use
ones eyes and ears those languages which have this number
would put eyes and ears in the dual. The plural expresses
' more-than-oneness ' ; in those languages which have a dual
it expresses ' more-than-twoness.' Thus in Old English the
plural we ' we ' implies at least three persons, ' we two ' being
expressed by the dual wit.
We have a trace of the distinction between dual and plural
in the reciprocal noun-pronouns each other (dual) and one
another (plural).
128. The most important cases in language generally are
the nominative, vocative, accusative, dative, genitive, instru-
mental, locative.
129. The nominative is the ' subject-case,' its main
function being to mark the subject of a sentence. Thus in
the earth is round, the earth is a round ball, earth would be
expressed by a noun in the nominative by all languages
which have the nominative inflection, such as Latin ; and if
ball were inflected in such a language, it also would be put
VOL. i. E
50 INTRODUCTION. [§ 130.
in the nominative to show that it is an adjunct to the other
nominative earth ; and in a concord-language round in both
sentences would also be put in the nominative. In English
there is no special nominative inflection of nouns, so that all
we can say is that in the English sentence the earth is round,
earth stands in the nominative relation, or is nominatival.
130. The vocative is the ' exclamation-case/ or, in other
words, it is a noun used as a sentence- word ; we might there-
fore call it the ' sentence-case.' Sir I is an example of a noun
in the vocative relation.
131. The accusative or 'direct object case' serves to
complete the meaning of a transitive verb (248). Thus in
the man beat the boy, the man saw the boy, boy is in the accusa-
tive relation, being regarded as the direct object of the
actions expressed by beat and saw. Every noun which
follows a verb in English is not necessarily in the object
relation to the verb, but may stand in the subject (nomina-
tive) relation. Thus in such sentences as John became a
lawyer, he turned Methodist, although the nouns lawyer and
Methodist may be said to modify the meanings of the verbs
became and turned, they are much more intimately connected
with the subject- words John, he, the verb being little more than
a link between the two pairs of noun-words John . . . lawyer,
he . . . Methodist', whereas in he beat the boy, boy is not con-
nected— except very indirectly — with he, and modifies beat
only, just as in the compounds boy-beater, boy-beating. In
such a sentence as he is a lawyer, where is has no meaning
of its own, lawyer cannot, of course, be said to modify that
meaning in any way.
132. If another noun-word is required to complete the
meaning of a transitive verb, it is generally in the dative
or ' indirect object ' relation, as in that man gave my brother
an orange, where brother would be put in the dative case in
such a language as Latin or German. As we see from this
example, the dative generally denotes the person affected by
§ 138.] NOUNS. 51
or interested in the action expressed by the verb ; the dative
is therefore the ' interest-case.' Hence in such sentences as
he helped the man, he injured the man, the noun would be put
in the dative in many languages. In English we should call
the man in such constructions simply the object of the verb,
for in English we recognise an indirect object only by its
standing alongside of a noun in the direct object rela-
tion (114).
133. The genitive case, as in Johrfs book, a day's ivork,
shows that the noun in the genitive case (Johns) is an
adjunct to another word — generally a noun ; it may there-
fore be regarded as the ' adjective case/ a days being
equivalent to of a day (78), and of honour being equivalent
to the adjective honourable (102).
134. The instrumental case expresses the instrument or
manner of an action. Thus in struck by lightning, by degrees,
the nouns lightning, degrees are in the instrumental relation.
135. The locative case expresses place. Thus in to stop
at home, to live in the country, the two nouns are in the
locative relation.
136. The instrumental and locative — especially the former
—may be regarded as 'adverb cases/ for, like adverbs,
nouns in these cases are used chiefly to modify verbs, and by
degrees is exactly equivalent to the adverb gradually.
137. There are many other meanings which are expressed
by case-inflections in different languages. Thus some lan-
guages have a ' comitative case ' to express ' accompanied
by/ and many primitive languages have a variety of cases to
express minute distinctions of position, on, in, or near an
object, etc.
138. The meanings of cases are often very varied, and
when we give a case a certain name we do not imply that it
is confined to the functions expressed by that name. Thus
in Greek the dative case not only denotes an interest or
indirect object relation, but also has the functions of the
£ 2
52 INTRODUCTION. [§ 139.
instrumental and locative cases of more highly inflected
languages.
139. All cases except the nominative and vocative are
included under the common term oblique cases.
140. English has only one inflected case, the genitive,
(man's, men's), the uninflected base constituting the common
case (man, men), which is equivalent to the nominative,
vocative, accusative, and dative of such a language as Latin.
141. But in that special class of nouns called personal
pronouns we find a totally different system of case-inflection,
namely, a nominative (he), and an objective case (him),
which latter corresponds to the accusative (/ saw him) and
the dative (give it him /) of more highly inflected languages.
But the nominative case of the pronouns in English, though
originally a strict nominative, has lost many of its gram-
matical functions. In spoken English, such a nominative as
he or / is hardly used except as a conjoint form, — as a kind
of prefix to the finite verb (he sees, he saw, I have seen), the
objective case being always substituted for the nominative
when used absolutely in vulgar speech, as in it is me, and
often also in educated speech,
Gender.
142. Gender is the expression of sex-distinctions by
means of grammatical forms.
143. In nature things are distinguished by sex as male,
such as ' man/ ' son,' ' cock ' ; female, such as ' woman/
1 daughter/ ' hen ' ; and neuter, that is, neither male nor
female, such as ' stone/ ' tree/ ' hand/
144. All languages have separate words for ' man/ 'woman/
' son/ ' daughter/ etc., with which they can form gender-
denoting groups or compounds, such as man-servant, woman-
servant, cock-sparrow, hen-sparrow, etc. Some languages
also mark the distinctions of sex in pronouns, as in the
§ 146.] NOUNS. 53
English he, she, it. With the help of these pronouns we are
able to mark sex in such compounds as he-goat, she-goat.
145. If we did not know the meanings of such words as
woman and daughter, we should not be able to tell whether
they denoted male, or female, or lifeless things. But in
many languages there are words which show sex by their
form : thus in English we know that such words as authoress,
baroness, lioness denote female beings by the ending -ess;
even if we did not know the meanings of these words, we
should still be able to guess that they denoted female beings.
This denoting of sex by means of grammatical form is called
gender. The only certain test of gender in all languages is
the use of the pronouns he, she, it, by which we can distin-
guish nouns as he-nouns, she-nouns, and it-nouns, according
as they are spoken of or referred to as he, she, or it. Thus
baroness is a she-word, but burgess is a he-word, although it
has the same ending, and business is an it-noun. In grammar,
he- words are called masculine, she -words feminine, it-
words neuter.
146. In English the grammatical category gender gener-
ally agrees with the logical category sex ; that is, feminine
nouns are names of female beings, and so on. When gender
agrees with sex in this way, it is called natural gender.
But gender and sex do not always agree. Thus, even in
English we call a ship she, and in books the sun is called he
instead of it. In such languages as Latin, German, and Old
English this is carried much farther; thus in Old English,
foot is a he-noun or masculine, and hand is feminine. In
such languages not only are names of things made masculine
and feminine, but even names of male and female beings
have genders which contradict the natural sex. Thus in
Old English wif ' woman/ ' wife ' is neuter, and wif-mann
' woman,' literally ' wife-man/ is masculine. When gender
diverges from sex in this way, it is called grammatical
gender; thus the Old English wifmann is a grammatical
54 INTRODUCTION. [§ 147.
masculine, while Old English mann ' man ' is a natural
masculine.
Form- words.
147. The most important form-words associated with
nouns are the indefinite article a (a man), the definite article
the (the man), and the prepositions, such as of, to, with.
148. The meaning of nouns is often modified by the pre-
sence or absence of the articles, as in where does Baker live ?
compared with where does the baker live?, iron is a metal,
compared with an iron to iron with. . The presence or
absence of an article often goes hand in hand with inflection ;
thus the plural of a man is men, and the absence of the
articles a or the in the singular man generally shows that it
stands in the vocative relation.
149. Putting a preposition before a noun is grammatically
equivalent to adding an inflection. Thus of a man means
exactly the same as a mans, and to him means the same as
him in give it him ! So also with difficulty corresponds to
the instrumental case in such a language as Sanskrit.
MEANING.
Concrete Nouns.
150. The primary and most characteristic use of nouns
as regards their meaning is to express substances. Sub-
stance-nouns, or concrete nouns, as they are generally called,
are divided into the two main classes of common nouns,
such as man, and proper names, such as Plato. Common
nouns, again, are subdivided into class-nouns, such as man,
and material nouns, such as iron. Collective nouns, such
as crowd, are a subdivision of class-nouns, all other class-nouns
being included under the head of individual nouns :
/ ( individual (man)
\ class-nouns <«,.'/ ,\
/ common nouns «J I collective (crowd)
concrete < I material nouns (iron)
( proper names (Plato]
5 154-1 NOUNS. 55
Class-Nouns.
151. We call such a word as man a class-word (class-noun)
because it stands for a class or number of individual things
having certain attributes in common by which they are dis-
tinguished from other classes of things, such as ' monkeys/
* trees,' ' houses.' Hence monkey, tree, house are also class-
words. All these words are individual class-words as dis-
tinguished from collective class-words such as crowd (153).
152. Class-nouns denoting only a single object are called
singular class-nouns, or, more briefly, singular nouns. Thus
in popular language sun and moon are singular nouns as
opposed to plural nouns, such as tree, man, although in
the scientific language of astronomy sun and moon are as
much plural nouns as the other two. Singular nouns are
just as much class-nouns as plural nouns are : even if astro-
nomy had not revealed the existence of other suns and moons,
we should still regard sun and moon as class-words on the
ground that z/"we had occasion to speak of other bodies —
either real or imaginary — resembling our sun and moon, we
should unhesitatingly extend the old names to these new
objects.
Singular and plural nouns must, of course, not be confounded
with nouns in the singular or plural inflection.
Collective Nouns.
153. Collective nouns express a number of things collected
together so that they may be regarded as a single object.
Crowd, fleet, nation are collective words. Crowd means a
number of human beings so close together that at a distance
they seem to form a solid mass. So also fleet means a
number of ships sailing together undeT one command ; and
nation means a number of people bound together by a com-
mon language, government, habits of life, etc.
154. Collective nouns are as much class-words as indi-
56 INTRODUCTION. [§ 155.
vidual nouns such as man are : we can think of a number
of crowds or fleets or of different nations as well as of a
single crowd, fleet, etc. Crowd etc. are, therefore, at the
same time plural nouns. Universe may be regarded as a
singular collective noun.
Material Nouns.
155. Such words as iron, glass, bread, water do not ex-
press any definite thing, as the class-words tree etc. do, but
each of them includes the whole mass of matter possessing
the attributes implied by the word. Thus iron means not
only the nails and the hammer I may have in my hands at
this present moment, but all the iron in the universe, what-
ever may be the form or quantity of each portion of it.
Material words thus make us think more of the attributes
they suggest than of the thing itself. Thus iron makes us
think of hardness, weight, liability to rust, etc., associated
together in a substance of indefinite form. Hence material
words approach very near in meaning to pure attribute
words.
When a material noun is used to express an individual object
of definite shape, it is no longer a material noun, but a class-
noun. Thus iron in the sense of ' implement to smooth cloth
with,' or glass in the sense of ' vessel to drink out of ' are pure
class-nouns.
Proper Names.
156. Such words as man and crowd suggest an indefinite
number of separate objects, and such a word as iron sug-
gests part of an indefinite mass of matter. We include class-
nouns and material nouns under the term common nouns,
meaning that such a designation as man is shared — or may
be shared — in common by an indefinite number of individual
men, and that such a designation as iron is shared in common
by portions of an indefinitely large mass. None of these
§ I59-1 NOUNS. 57
words by themselves suggest a definite individual or a definite
portion of matter.
157. One way of making an indefinite class-noun definite
is by qualifying it with a mark-word (35), such as this or the,
as when we make the indefinite man, river into the definite
this man, the man, the river. But mark-words define only
relatively, not absolutely : the man, or its equivalent he, by
itself does not enable me to identify the person till I know
exactly who is referred to ; and the river may mean the
Thames, but it may also mean the Rhine, or the Nile, or any
other river which is uppermost in the thoughts of the speaker
— generally, of course, the river which is nearest to the place
where he lives. Name-words or proper names, such
as Plato, London, Thames also mark off individuals of a class,
and exclude other individuals of the same class, but they are
absolute or permanent, not relative and shifting marks: we
can shift the designation the river from the Thames to the
Rhine, and from the Rhine to the Nile, but we cannot do this
with the designation the Thames, etc.
158. A proper name need not be confined to a single
individual, but may include a definite group of individuals, as
we see in family names (surnames), such as Collins-, a surname
by itself does not tell us which individual of the family is
meant, although it marks off all the members of the family
from the members of other families. Surnames are, there-
fore, collective name- words, as opposed to individual
name-words, such as the Christian name John, and the
names Plato, London, etc. The United States is also a collec-
tive name-word, as opposed to the state-names Maine,
Virginia, etc., which are individual name-words.
159. It often happens that the same name is applied to a
number of unconnected objects, simply because the number
of objects that we have to name is so great that it is impos-
sible to find a perfectly distinctive name for each, and to be
certain that the name we use has not been used before ; and
58 INTRODUCTION. [§ 160.
this applies to proper as well as common names. Thus
there is a Boston in England and another in the United
States of North America, and such a name as John is given
every year to a large number of children. Even such a name
2&John Collins may be ambiguous; whence the practice of
giving more than one Christian name, as in John Stuart Mill.
But however imperfect the result may be, the intention is the
same in all proper names, that is, to exclude ordinary
individuals of the same class, and it is this intention which
puts the ambiguous John on a level with the unambiguous
Plato. Conversely, the fact that such a word as sun in
popular language expresses only a single object, does not
make it a proper name, because in the word sun there is no
intention of excluding other possible suns.
160. As regards their relation to common words, proper
names fall under two well-defined classes, according as
they are connected or unconnected with common words in
the same language. Such Christian names as Patience,
Violet, and such surnames as Brown, Smith may be called
connected names, because all these sound-groups express
not only name-nouns but also a variety of common words,
patience being an abstract noun, brown an adjective, smith a
class-noun, and so on. 'So also such place-names as New-
castle, The Strand are connected names. Such proper names
as Philip, John, London, Thames, on the other hand, are un-
connected. The history of language shows however that all
unconnected names were originally connected ; that is to
say, that all proper names have arisen from limiting the
application of some common word to one particular object.
Just as the first man who was called Brown was so called
because of his brown hair or brown complexion, so also the
first man who was called Philip was so called because of his
love of horses or skill in driving or riding ; for in Greek—
the language in which this name was first formed — it was
originally an adjective (phtltppos] meaning ' fond of horses.'
§ 1 63.] NOUNS. 59
Proper names are thus never arbitrary in their origin : we
can be certain that there was always a reason for a name when
it was first given, however fanciful this reason may have been,
and however much the meaning and use of the name may have
changed afterwards.
161. As regards their form, proper names may consist of a
single word or a word-group, which, again, may be made up of
proper names, as in John Stuart Mill, or of common words,
as in High Street, or of a mixture of proper names and
common words, as in John the Baptist, Edward the First.
Proper names may also consist of phrases or even sentences.
162. As regards their meaning, proper names fall under a
great variety of heads, such as personal names, which,
again, include Christian .names, surnames, patronymics, or
names formed from the father's name, such as Williamson
1 son of William ' ; geographical names, including place-
names, such as England, London, Islington, river-names,
mountain-names, etc. ; names of natural objects, horses,
dogs, or animals, trees (as in Burnham beeches], stars, con-
stellations; names of artificial objects, such as ships,
steam-engines, guns, bells (Big Ben).
163. Such classifications evidently give part of the meaning
of a proper name. Thus it is part of the meaning of such
proper names as John and Plato that they denote persons,
and not places, etc. But they mean more than this : they imply
'male human being/ just as Mary implies 'female human
being/ Each name has besides a vast number of special
meanings. Thus the name Plato implies all the charac-
teristics— personal attributes, actions, feelings, thoughts,
writings, etc.— that distinguish the man Plato from all other
men.
It is, therefore, incorrect to say that proper names are devoid
of meaning. On the contrary, they have more meaning than
common words through being more highly specialized (39).
The mistake has arisen from confusing unmeaning with uncon-
. nected (160).
60 INTRODUCTION. [§ 164.
164. Proper names are always liable to change into com-
mon words. One way in which this change may begin is by
the metaphorical use of a proper name to express other
persons who possess some attribute or attributes implied by
the proper name. Thus, as Plato was a philosopher, we may
say of any other philosopher that he is a second Plato, or,
more briefly, a Plato. In the same way a strong man may
be called a Hercules. Another way in which proper names
may be made into common words is seen in such a word
as china, which means a particular kind of earthenware
which was originally brought from China. In such cases as
these, a proper name is made into a noun. Proper names
are also made into verbs, either indirectly as in to hector, or
directly, as in to boycott. Proper names are often used in a
more or less arbitrary way to form names of newly invented
articles of trade, as in Wellington boot, shortened to welling/on,
Gladstone bag • or of new plants, trees, minerals, etc., as in
fuchsia (so called from the German botanist Fuchs, which,
again, means * fox/ from the slyness attributed to some one
of his ancestors), Blenheim orange (a kind of apple shaped
like an orange, and first grown at Blenheim, the seat of the
duke of Marlborough, so called from the victory won by the
duke of Marlborough at Blenheim), Prussian blue.
It must be borne in mind that every name is not a proper
name. Blenheim orange is a name that was given arbitrarily —
though less arbitrarily than such a name as Wellington boots —
to a new kind of apple, but as it includes all individual apples
or apple-trees of the same kind, instead of excluding them, it is
a common, not a proper name. So also such a nickname as
Tory is applied indiscriminately to all men of certain political
views, and is therefore an ordinary class-word. But when king
Edward the First was called Longshanks, this nickname was
used to distinguish him from the other Englishmen of the time,
whether longlegged or shortlegged, and consequently was a true
proper name.
Such an epithet as the discoverer of the circulation of the
§ 1 670 NOUNS. 6 1
blood or the first Christian emperor of Rome is not a proper name,
for, although it almost necessarily denotes one single, definite
individual, it does so by virtue of its meaning and grammatical
construction, and not by any arbitrary restriction. Such an
epithet as the man with the iron mask, on the other hand,
approaches very near to a proper name, because there might be
several men who have worn iron masks, and we use this epithet
to denote one particular man in history whose identity is still
disputed.
Abstract Nouns.
165. The secondary use of nouns as regards their
meaning is to express attributes and phenomena, attribute-
nouns and phenomenon-nouns being included under the
common designation abstract nouns.
166. Permanent attributes being primarily expressed by
adjectives, most attribute-nouns are formed from adjectives
by various derivative processes : thus the atlribute-nouns
redness, length, height, stupidity, prudence are formed from the
adjectives red, long, high, stupid, prudent. Changing attri-
butes or phenomena being primarily expressed by verbs,
most phenomenon-words are derivatives of verbs ; thus the
phenomenon-nouns reading, action, conversation, proof, speech
are formed from the verbs read, act, converse, prove, speak.
Many abstract nouns are also formed by the direct conver-
sion of a verb into a noun ; thus from the verbs to run, to
ride, to sound are formed the nouns in such collocations as
a good run, to go for a ride, a loud sound. When an
adjective is converted into a noun, it generally becomes
concrete, and often undergoes further changes of meaning,
as in the noun goods from the adjective good, the reds and
yellows in a picture, which means the yellow and red portions
of the picture, redness and yellowness being purely abstract.
167. But there are many abstract nouns which are neither
derived nor converted from adjectives or verbs. Such abstract
nouns are — beauty ; lightning, thunder, shadow ; day, night,
6~2 INTRODUCTION. [§ 168.
summer, winter ; disease, fever ; joy, hope ; ease, energy.
Most of the ideas expressed by these words are so indispen-
sable and familiar that nouns were framed to express them
directly (57). The adjectives and verbs corresponding to
these independent abstract nouns are either distinct words,
such as to burn corresponding to fire, or are derivatives from
them, such as easy, beautiful from ease, beauty.
168. Some nouns, especially those of complex meaning,
may be regarded as half-abstract, or intermediate between
abstract and concrete. Thus north and south are abstract if
regarded from the point of view of the rising and setting of
the sun, while they are concrete if we regard them merely
as parts of the earth or points on the horizon or in the sky.
169. Particles and interjections are occasionally converted
into nouns. Thus we say, ' there is an if in that/ meaning
some reservation or condition. So also in
Leave Now to dogs and apes! Man has Forever.
(BROWNING)
170. Words belonging to all parts of speech may be used
as nouns to express the word itself apart from its meaning, as
when we say ' if is a conjunction/ * the objective case of /
is me.1
FUNCTION.
171. The primary grammatical function of nouns is to
serve as head-words. A head-word may be modified by
having something either implied or stated about it. Hence
a noun may be modified either by an assumptive (attributive)
word or a predicate. Thus the nouns snow, height, action,
ride are modified by assumptive words in melting snow, a
great height, a generous action, a long ride, and by predicative
words and word-groups in the snoiv has melted, the height is
enormous, such an action is not justifiable, the ride was too long.
The assumptive or predicative word may be a mere qualifier,
as in all men, the men are here.
§ 1 73-] NOUNS. 63
172. The secondary function of nouns is to serve as
adjunct-words, by modifying other nouns or verbs.
173. When a noun is put before the noun it modifies it
is called an assumptive (attributive) noun. Thus in king
Alfred the first noun is assumptive. When a material noun
is used assumptively it resembles an adjective, as in stone
wall, gold chain. But we can see the general difference
between an assumptive noun and an assumptive adjective by
comparing gold chain with golden hair. Golden is a pure
attribute-word, expressing one only of the attributes of gold,
namely its colour; while the assumptive noun gold in gold
chain implies all the attributes of gold, a gold chain having
not only the colour of gold, but also its weight, hardness, etc.
There is the same distinction between silken hair or silky hair
and silk thread. As thinking of all the attributes of a sub-
stance is practically the same thing as thinking of the
substance itself, it really does not matter much whether we
regard stone and gold in stone wait, gold chain as concrete
or abstract words.
In noun-compounds such as man-servant, cattle-market,
cannon-ball, the first noun is an adjunct to the second exactly
as in stone wall, etc. It is in fact difficult to decide whether to
regard stone in stone wall as an element of a compound or not.
It certainly has something of the fixity of a compound: we
cannot separate its elements as we can separate those of a
green tree in so green a tree ; we can hardly even make stone
wall into the wall is stone. But as both elements of such
groups keep their strong stress, and as there is not marked
isolation of meaning, it is equally justifiable to regard them as
mere word-groups analogous to the combination of an assump-
tive adjective with its noun. In fact, in older English a gold
chain was called a golden chain, and we can still write silken
thread instead of silk thread without any change of meaning.
This has led some people to regard stone, gold in stone wall,
gold cfiain—a.nd even cannon in cannon-ball — as adjectives.
There can, indeed, be no question that the combination gold
chain bears a close resemblance to golden hair, not only logi-
64 INTR OD UC TION. [§ 1 74.
cally, but also grammatically, which we need not be surprised
at when we consider that gold, etc. are material nouns, and that
these material nouns approach very near in meaning to pure
attribute-words (155). Material nouns resemble adjectives
formally in not taking any articles, so that while man-servant
etc. are clearly shown to be compounds by the want of the
articles a or the which man would require if it were independent,
the absence of the articles from the material nouns stone, etc.
not only does not make stone wall a compound, but increases
the difficulty of distinguishing these nouns from adjectives.
But as the most marked formal characteristic of adjectives is
comparison, and as comparison of stone in stone wall is im-
possible, even if the meaning of the combination allowed it,
while there would be no grammatical objection to making stony
road, golden hair into stonier road, the most golden hair, we
must refuse to admit that assumptive nouns have any of the
really distinctive features of adjectives.
174. A noun following a verb may serve as adjunct to the
verb alone, as in / saw the man, or the verb may be only a
link to connect the adjunct noun with the subject noun-word,
as in he became a lawyer, he is a lawyer (131). Of the rela-
tions in which a verb-modifying noun stands to its verb the
most important are those of the direct and indirect object,
which have been already explained (131, 132). But there are
a variety of other relations in which an adjunct noun can
stand to its verb, most of which make the adjunct noun
grammatically equivalent to an adverb, as in he stopped the
night compared with he stopped long, he walked all day, he ran
a race (252, 253). For the use of a noun as complement to
a noun-word governed by a verb, as in they made him king,
see § 267.
175. A noun in an oblique case — or oblique case relation—
or governed by a preposition is always an adjunct word.
Thus days and of honour in a days work, a man of honour,
are adjunct words or word-groups, as also boy in he beat the
boy compared with boy-beating. In fact, the only nouns that
are not adjunct words are those that are in the subject rela-
§ 178.] ADJECTIVES. 6$
tion, as in the earth is round. Even a nominatival noun is
an adjunct-word when it is not a subject-word, as in the earth
is a globe, where globe is an adjunct to earth.
Adjectives.
FORM.
176. The only regular inflections of adjectives in English
are those of comparison, which, however, may be regarded
as being almost as much a process of derivation as of inflec-
tion (79). There are two degrees of comparison, the com-
parative and superlative, in contrast to which the uncom-
pared adjective is said to be in the positive degree. The
comparative is formed by adding ~er, or prefixing the form-
word more, the superlative by adding -est or prefixing the form-
word most. Thus from the positives big, beautiful are formed
the comparatives bigger, more beautiful, and the superlatives
biggest, most beautiful.
177. In concord-languages, such as Latin, adjectives have
inflections corresponding to those of nouns — though gener-
ally not exactly the same in form. The general rule in such
languages is that adjectives agree with their nouns— that is,
the nouns to which they serve as adjuncts, whether assump-
tively or predicatively — in case, number, and gender. Thus
in such a sentence as he has beautiful daughters, beautiful
would take the same inflections as daughters, namely the
accusative case, plural number, and feminine gender. Eng-
lish still has a trace of adjective- concord in the adjective-
pronouns this and that, which have plurals these, those, as in
these men compared with this man. Otherwise English
adjectives have no inflections of case, number, or gender.
178. In languages which inflect their adjectives, the
accompanying noun is often dropped when it can be easily
supplied from the context, the adjective inflections being
enough to show the gender, number, and grammatical rela-
tions of the resulting free adjective. Thus in such lan-
VOL. i. F
66 INTRODUCTION. [§ 179.
guages the good in the masculine singular would be
understood to mean ' the good man/ and in the feminine
plural it would mean ' the good women/ while good in the
neuter plural would be understood to mean ' good things.' In
such instances as these there is no conversion of the adjective
into a noun : the noun is simply dropped, and the adjective
keeps its own inflections unchanged. Thus in German die
gute ' the good (woman) ' forms its genitive singular der
guten ' of the good (woman) ' with an exclusively adjective
inflection ; for \igute were a noun, it would remain unchanged
in the genitive singular, like the feminine noun die tante ' the
aunt/ genitive singular der tante.
179. But in English such free adjectives could not be used
without ambiguity because of the want of adjective inflections ;
hence in English an ordinary adjective [for adjective pronouns
see § 193] cannot be used as a noun without being converted
— either wholly or partially— into a noun, and even then its
use is often much restricted. When we talk of goods and
chattels or the reds and yellows in a picture, good, red, yellow
are pure nouns, as much so as chattels and picture themselves.
These are therefore cases of complete conversion, which is
frequently accompanied by considerable changes of meaning,
as in the case of goods. But when we speak of the true
and the beautiful, meaning ' what is true/ ' what is beautiful/
or say that the good are happy , meaning * good people are
happy/ the conversion is only partial, for although the good
in this sentence has exactly the same grammatical function
as men or any other noun in the plural, it does not take the
plural inflection which it would require if it were a real noun ;
and in it as well as in the true and the beautiful, the form- word
the has a different function from what it would have with a
noun ; for we could not say the men in the sense of ' men in
general.'
180. Another way of using an adjective without its noun
in English is to substitute the unmeaning noun-pronoun one
§ 183.] ADJECTIVES. 67
for the noun, the inflection of the noun being transferred to
this prop-word, as we may call it. In this way we can dis-
tinguish between the singular a good one and the plural good
ones, as in give me a book, an interesting one — one tall man
and two short ones. In such cases a concord-language would
of course employ the inflected adjective without any noun or
prop-word. These prop-forms are generally used in English
only when the adjective is absolute, that is, when its noun
can be supplied grammatically from the context : we cannot
use good ones in the general sense of the good, but only with
reference to a preceding noun.
MEANING.
181. The primary use of adjectives as regards their mean-
ing is to express the attributes of substance-words. Such
adjectives as big, green, good are pure attribute-adjectives :
they express simple attributes apart from the substances in
which these attributes are found. These adjectives are also
formally independent of nouns. Adjectives formed from
nouns also often express simple attributes, as in golden hair.
182. When an adjective expresses a group of attributes, it
approaches near in meaning to a substance-word, and when
an adjective formed from a substance-noun expresses all the
attributes belonging to that noun, it is practically identical
with it in meaning. Thus the English climate means exactly
the same as the climate of England, and a silken thread means
exactly the same as a thread of silk. We call such adjectives
substance-adjectives or concrete adjectives. It is evident
that these adjectives fall under the same classes as the nouns
to which they correspond in meaning. Thus human in the
human mind is a class-adjective, silken in silken thread and
wooden in wooden spoon are material adjectives, and English
is a name-adjective, as also Crimean in Crimean war = ' the
War in the Crimea.'
183. In such a combination as Foreign Office— *• office for
F 2
68 INTRODUCTION. [§ 184.
transacting the business of the nation with foreign countries/
the adjective may be called a condensed adjective, for it
implies adjective + noun.
184. In considering the meaning of adjectives, we must
carefully distinguish between attributive adjectives, such as
we have hitherto been considering, and qualifying adjec-
tives, which do not imply or state attributes, but merely limit
or define the noun they are associated with (34). Some of
these qualifying adjectives have perfectly definite meanings,
such as many, while others, such as the articles a and the,
have only more or less vague grammatical functions, most of
them belonging to the class of adjective-pronouns.
185. The only words of which attributes can be implied
or stated are substance-words, that is, concrete nouns.
Hence every adjective which is associated with an abstract
noun must be regarded as a qualifying, not as an attribute-
adjective. Thus, while great in great man is a true attribute-
adjective, it is only a qualifier in a great height, great stupidity.
So also quick and rash are qualifying adjectives in quick motion,
rash actions.
FUNCTION.
186. The grammatical function of adjectives is to serve
as adjuncts to noun-words. We distinguish adjectives as
assumptive (attributive) and predicative according as
they imply or state an attribute or qualification of the noun-
word. Thus we have assumptive adjectives in good men,
many men, great goodness, quick motion, and predicative adjec-
tives in he is good, his goodness is great, riding is healthy, to
err is human. In riding is a healthy exercise, healthy is, of
course, an assumptive adjective, although it forms part of the
predicate-group.
187. An adjective following a verb logically modifies the
noun-word which is the subject of the verb, as in he is ready,
where ready modifies he. If the verb has an independent
§ i9i.] PRONOUNS. 69
meaning, the adjective may be said to modify it to a certain
extent, although even then it is an adjunct mainly to the
subject-word, as in he turned red. Here red not only tells
us that ' he ' is red, but may also be said to tell us how he
turned. In these instances the adjective follows a link-
verb (262). If a word having the form of an adjective
follows an independent verb, as in he breathed hard, it
must be regarded as converted into an adverb. For the
use of an adjective as complement to a preceding noun-word
governed by a verb, as in to paint a house white, see § 267.
188. When an adjective serves as adjunct to another ad-
jective which follows it, it must be regarded as an adverb,
as in dark red, deep red, greenish yellow, unless we prefer to
regard these groups as compounds. But such groups as
much greater, little letter cannot well be regarded as com-
pounds, so it is better to regard dark in dark red also as an
•adverb, especially as both elements in such groups retain their
strong stress, and there is no special isolation in meaning.
Such a group as quick-revolving^ with its predominant stress
on the first element, makes more the impression of a compound.
Pronouns.
189. Every pronoun is either a noun — noun-pronoun or
simply pronoun, or an adjective — adjective-pronoun.
Many pronouns are used both as nouns and as adjectives, in
which case the adjective use is generally the primary and the
more important ; thus that is a noun-pronoun in / know that
an adjective-pronoun in that man, that fact.
FORM.
190. Pronouns are distinguished from ordinary nouns and
adjectives by various formal characteristics.
191. Some of the noun-pronouns have special inflections
(he, him), and special distinctions of gender (he, she, it}.
70 INTRODUCTION. [§ 192.
102. When an adjective-pronoun is made into a noun, it
sometimes takes the ordinary noun-inflections, as in the other,
plural the others (the others have come compared with the other
men), and sometimes keeps its adjective form, that is, re-
mains indeclinable, as in some think differently=-some men
think differently.
193. The adjective-pronouns differ from ordinary adjec-
tives in the following features : —
(a) Many of them can be used absolutely without any
prop- word (180) : he has some bread, I have some too. Some
of them have special absolute forms : he has no books, 1 have
none either.
(V) Most of them can be converted into noun-pronouns
without the restrictions that apply to ordinary adjectives
(179) : much remains to be done, many think differently. Some
of them, however, cannot be converted into nouns or used
absolutely without the addition of some prop-word, such-
as one, body, thing : has anyone come ? has anybody come ?
everything went wrong.
(c] They are often peculiar in their use of the articles.
Some of them never take them at all, such as this, that, and,
of course, the articles a and the themselves : others only with
some change of meaning or function, as in to take a little
trouble, the whole day, compared with to take little trouble,
whole loaves; while others, again, take them in peculiar
positions, as in all the day compared with the longest day.
It is often difficult to draw the line between adjective-
pronouns and ordinary adjectives. But if an adjective does
not show any of the above formal peculiarities, it cannot be
regarded as a pronoun, however much it may resemble an
adjective-pronoun in meaning. Thus several is a pronoun
because it can be used absolutely, as in / have several ; but
although divers has the same meaning as several, we cannot
say */ have divers any more than we can say */ have good in
the sense of I have good books ; so divers can be regarded only
as an ordinary adjective.
§ i9s.] PRONOUNS. Jl
MEANING.
194. If we compare pronouns with ordinary nouns and
adjectives, we shall find that pronouns always have a very
general meaning. Thus the noun-pronoun you means
' anyone that I am speaking to/ and the adjective-pronoun
the can be prefixed to any noun to single it out from other
nouns. We might therefore from a purely logical point of
view define pronouns as general nouns and adjectives,
as opposed to the ordinary special nouns and adjectives,
bearing in mind that some nouns and adjectives are more
general in their meaning than others. Hence a noun of
general meaning is often almost equivalent to a pronoun.
Thus men say, people say mean much the same as they
say, and in a book it does not matter much whether the
author speaks of himself as / or the author ~, the writer, or
whether he speaks of his reader as you or the reader. In
fact the distinction between men say and they say is purely
formal : we restrict the name pronoun to they because it has
formal peculiarities of its own which keep it apart from such
nouns as man, however general the latter may be in meaning.
We have also seen (193. i) that it is sometimes difficult to
draw the line between ordinary qualifying adjectives — which
always have a more or less general meaning — and adjective-
pronouns.
FUNCTION.
195. The grammatical function of pronouns is to serve as
mark-.words (35). When a man says of himself / think
instead of William Smith thinks — or whatever his name may
be — or when he speaks of some other man as he, instead of
calling him by his name, or saying the man who was here
yesterday, etc., he does much the same as the man who makes
a cross instead of signing his name, or puts a block of wood
on his library shelf to show where a book has been taken out.
Just as the cross or the block may stand for any one name or
72 INTRODUCTION. [§ 196.
any one book, so also the pronouns /, he may stand for any
one noun whose meaning allows of these pronouns being
applied to it, and they may be transferred from one noun to
another : he may point to William Smith at one time, and to
John Collins at another. They are thus shifting or move-
able mark-words, name-words (proper names), such as
William Smith, being permanent or fixed mark-words (157).
196. A noun-pronoun is at the same time a substitute
for a noun or group of nouns. Pronouns are used partly
for the sake of brevity, as when we say you instead of ' the
person I am speaking to now,' partly to avoid the repetition
of a noun, and partly to avoid the necessity of definite state-
ment.
197. As the cross at the end of a receipt or similar
document only tells us that a name is meant, without telling
us what the name is, so also a pronoun has no independent
meaning of its own: it conveys only enough information to
let us know what noun it refers to. It is true that he
generally means 'male being' and she generally means
'female being/ but the distinction of sex in these pronouns
is made only for the sake of more distinct reference ; and
when we refer to a ship as she, the word she is as devoid of
independent meaning as the cross which stands for a name.
198. Adding an adjective-pronoun to a noun is equivalent
to putting a mark on the noun. Thus, to single out one
particular book in a library catalogue by calling it the book or
this book, or to single out one particular house in a row by
calling it the house, is equivalent to ticking off the name of
the book in the catalogue or chalking a cross on the door of
the house. Adjective-pronouns can be shifted from one noun
to another in the same way as a pencil tick can be shifted
from the title of one book to that of another in the catalogue.
The difference between noun-pronouns and adjective-pro-
nouns is, of course, that while a noun-pronoun takes the
place of a noun, an adjective-pronoun can only qualify it :
§ 2oo.] PRONOUNS. 73
the difference is the same as that between making a cross
stand for a name, and simply adding it to a name. Thus
when we talk of a man or a woman as the man, the woman,
we only put a mark on the nouns ; but when we talk of a
man as he or a woman as she, we substitute the mark-words
he, she for the nouns man, woman. So also when we talk of
William Smith as he, we substitute a moveable general mark-
word for a fixed, special designation. As man and woman
are nouns of comparatively general meaning, the groups the
man, the woman approach very near in meaning and function
to the noun-pronouns he, she.
CLASSES OF PRONOUNS.
199. As regards their function in the sentence, pronouns
fall under two main divisions, independent and dependent.
A sentence or clause introduced by a dependent pronoun
cannot stand alone, but makes us expect another (inde-
pendent) sentence, called the principal sentence or clause,
without which the dependent clause is incomplete. Thus
the dependent pronoun in who was here yesterday makes us
expect some such principal clause as / know the man— I
know the man who was here yesterday, while a sentence intro-
duced by the corresponding independent pronoun he can stand
alone — he was here yesterday. Dependent pronouns are
subdivided into relative and conjunctive. All pronouns
also fall under the heads of definite and indefinite. The
more special divisions are personal, possessive, emphatic,
reflexive, reciprocal, interrogative, negative, quanti-
tative. These divisions cross one another in various ways.
Thus an emphatic pronoun may be either personal or
possessive, besides necessarily being either dependent or
independent, and definite or indefinite.
Personal Pronouns.
200. The personal pronouns are all noun- pronouns.
They have plural- and case-inflections, and some of them
74 INTRODUCTION. [§201.
distinguish gender. They are distinguished by person,
as first, second, third person pronouns. The pronoun of
the first person singular, 7, means ' the speaker,' that is,
from the point of view of the speaker himself. The first
person plural we is not really the plural of /, whose meaning
does not admit of plurality : we means either ' I + you '
(you itself meaning either one or more than one person), or
1 1 + he, she, it, or they ' ; that is, the only way of making
a plural to / is by associating with it the idea of the second
or third person pronouns. The pronoun of the second
person is you, which is both singular='you man/ 'you
woman,' etc., and plural =' you people/ the old singular thou
being preserved only in the higher literary language. But
in combination with the emphatic pronoun self (205) we
make a distinction between the singular yourself and the
plural yourselves. The pronouns of the third person dis-
tinguish gender in the singular, but not in the plural :
singular masculine he, feminine she, neuter it, plural for all
genders they. The reason of the gender not being marked
in the plural is that a number of persons may be of different
sexes, and it is not worth while stopping to consider whether
they means ' the men ' or ' the women ' or ' the men and the
women together.'
Gender is to some extent distinguished in the plural of the
interrogative pronoun who, which is really a special kind of
personal pronoun (201. i).
201. Most of the personal pronouns are definite pro-
nouns : they point to some definite person or thing. The
French on in on dit 'they say' is, on the other hand, an
indefinite pronoun of the third person singular. This
indefinite personal pronoun is represented in English some-
times by one, sometimes by the definite personal pronouns
you and they : one would think so, you would think so. they say.
Although the designation ' personal pronoun ' is generally
confined to the above pronouns, there are several other pro-
§ 203.] PRONOUNS. 75
nouns which for convenience are classed under different heads,
and yet are really personal pronouns. Such pronouns are the
interrogative and relative who, what (211).
202. It must be observed that the neuter pronoun // does
not always refer to a definite thing, but is often entirely
unmeaning. Thus in it rains the it is a mere prop-word,
the logical subject of the sentence being contained in rains
itself (57).
Possessive Pronouns.
203. The possessive pronouns are exactly parallel to the
personal pronouns, each personal pronoun having its own
possessive, so that the possessive pronouns make the same
distinctions of number and person as the personal pronouns.
Thus to the personal pronoun he corresponds the possessive
third person his in his book. The possessive pronouns may
be regarded either as noun-pronouns in the genitive, or as
personal noun-pronouns made into adjectives. That is, we
may regard his in his look either as standing in the same
relation to of him as Johns does to of John, or as he made
into an adjective. It must be observed that a possessive
pronoun does not necessarily imply possession any more
than a genitive case does : when a slave talks of his master,
or the master of his headache, it does not mean that the slave
possesses the master, or the master possesses the headache.
Some of the possessives, such as his and its, certainly have
the inflections of genitives — although the vowel of his is not
the same as that of he ; but others, such as my — the posses-
sive of / — have not ; for the regular genitive of / would be
*l's. Some of the possessives make a distinction between
conjoint and absolute forms. Thus my in my look, my
own book is the conjoint form corresponding to the absolute
mine. The conjoint form is used when the possessive pro-
noun comes before its noun. The absolute form is used
when there is no accompanying noun, being itself equivalent
76 INTRODUCTION. [§204.
either to an adjective, as in the book is mine, or to a pure
noun : he does not seem to know the distinction between mine
and thine. Those pronouns which have the genitive ending
s in the conjoint form, such as his and its, do not make any
distinction between conjoint and absolute : his book, it is his.
Some of the others, such as her, take the genitive s in the
absolute form : her book, it is hers. As there is not a trace
of genitive inflection in such possessives as my, mine, and as
the distinction between conjoint and absolute is more charac-
teristic of adjectives than of nouns, we can have no hesitation
in regarding possessive pronouns, taken as a whole, as adjec-
tives rather than as genitive cases of noun-pronouns.
204. The possessive pronouns in English are : first person
singular my (absolute mine), plural our (absolute ours] ; second
person singular thy (absolute thine)) plural your (absolute
yours) ; third person singular masculine his, feminine her
(absolute hers), neuter its, plural their (absolute theirs).
Thy, thine occurs only in the higher literary language, your(s)
being substituted for it in ordinary language.
The genitives one's and whose of the indefinite one and the
interrogative and relative who may also be regarded as pos-
sessive pronouns.
Emphatic Pronouns.
205. The personal pronouns are made emphatic by
adding the noun-pronoun self, plural selves, as in / did
it myself, we did it ourselves, where the personal pronoun is
put in the possessive form, as before an ordinary noun;
while in other combinations, such as himself, themselves, the
personal pronoun is in the objective case, selft selves being in
a kind of apposition to it.
206. The possessive pronouns are made emphatic by add-
ing the adjective-pronoun own : my own book, it is my own.
From these emphatic possessive pronouns, new, doubly
emphatic noun-pronouns are formed by adding self: my own
self.
§ 2o8.] PRONOUNS. 77
Reflexive Pronouns.
207. The compounds of the personal pronouns with self
are also used as reflexive pronouns, as in we should try to see
ourselves as others see us, where ourselves is the reflexive pro-
noun corresponding to the ordinary personal pronoun us.
A reflexive pronoun is a personal pronoun standing in the
object-relation to a verb, or else joined to it by a preposition,
as in he thinks too much of himself , being at the same time a
repetition of the logical subject of the verb. In we see our-
selves the reflexive pronoun stands in the direct object-relation
to the verb see, and refers us back to we, which is the subject
of the verb. In John fold him to give himself plenty of time,
the reflexive pronoun himself stands in the indirect object-
relation to the verbal (verb-equivalent) to give, and refers us
back to the logical subject of give, namely him, told him to
give himself being equivalent to told him that he should give
himself (4A&\
208. It will be observed that in the last sentence the re-
flexive pronoun refers back to the logical subject of the verb-
equivalent it follows, which logical subject is in this sentence
not the grammatical subject in the sentence. In English a
reflexive pronoun always refers back in this way to the nearest
logical subject of the preceding verb or verbal. But in some
languages, such as Latin, a reflexive pronoun necessarily
refers back to the grammatical subject of the sentence, so
that in Latin the above sentence would imply that John
himself was to have plenty of time given him. So also in
such a sentence as he begged me to defend him, him would take
the reflexive form in Latin — ordvit ut se defenderem — which
would be impossible in English, because the logical subject of
the verbal to defend is me, which is not of the same person as
him, and cannot therefore be repeated by it. The Latin re-
flexives are therefore grammatical reflexives, the English
logical reflexives.
78 INTRODUCTION. [§ 209.
In English we sometimes use the simple personal pronouns
in a reflexive sense, as in he looked about Jtim.
209. The emphatic forms of the possessive pronouns are
used also as reflexives, as in he goes in his own carriage ; but
when it is not necessary to emphasize the reflexive meaning,
we generally use the simple possessives in a reflexive sense,
as in he has sold his carriage, he drives his carriage himself.
In all these sentences such a language as Latin would employ
the reflexive forms.
Reciprocal Pronouns.
210. The group-pronouns each other, one another, in such
sentences as they help each other, they would not speak to each
other, he told' the three children to help one another, are called
reciprocal pronouns. Reciprocal pronouns, like reflexives,
stand as adjuncts to a verb or verbal, and at the same time
refer back to the logical subject of the verb or verbal. But
this subject, as well as the reciprocal pronouns themselves,
must always be in the plural. Each other generally implies
only two, one another more than two persons, though this
distinction is not always strictly observed. Reciprocal pro-
nouns are necessarily plural, because there is always a cross-
relation between the subjects and the reciprocal pronouns.
Thus they help each other means ' A helps B, and B helps A.'
Interrogative Pronouns.
211. The interrogative or questioning pronouns in English
are who, what, which. Who is used only as a noun. It has
two genders, the personal, including masculine and feminine,
expressed by who, and the neuter, expressed by what : who
is that man />, who is that woman ?, what is that thing ?
These forms are plural as well as singular : who are those
men?, who are those women?, what are those things? We
see that the distinctions made in the interrogative pronouns
are much vaguer than in the personal pronouns, the distinc-
§215-] PRONOUNS. 79
tions made in he, she, they being levelled in who, although, on
the other hand, the retention of the singular forms of the in-
terrogative pronoun in the plural enables it to distinguish the
neuter from the personal gender in the plural as well as the
singular. The reason of this greater vagueness of the inter-
rogative pronouns is, of course, that a question is naturally
vaguer than a statement, for all questions imply a certain
amount of ignorance. Who and what also differ from he, she
and // in having a common genitive or possessive form whose.
Who has an objective case whom, parallel to him, for
which, however, the uninflected who is substituted in the
spoken language, as in who(m) do you mean ?
212. What differs from who in being used as an adjective
as well as a noun. In both functions it can be used in a
personal sense, but in a meaning different from that of who :
what is he?> what woman is that?
213. Which, like what, is mainly neuter in meaning, though
it is used personally as well. It is both a noun and an adjec-
tive, and is indeclinable, not having even a possessive form,
as what has : which (of those things) do you want?, which boy
do you mean ?
214. When an interrogative pronoun is used to introduce
an independent sentence (19 9), the interrogation is said to be
direct. When it introduces a clause dependent on a prin-
cipal clause containing a statement or question, the interroga-
tion is said to be indirect. Thus we have indirect
interrogation in such a sentence as / asked him who he was
and what he wanted, contrasting with the direct interrogation
sentences who are you ?, who is he?, what does he want?
215. It must be borne in mind that an interrogative pro-
noun is always the predicate of the sentence it introduces,
whether the sentence is independent or dependent. Thus
the questions who is he ?, (/ asked) who he was correspond to
the statement he is somebody.
INTRODUCTION. [§ 216.
Relative and Conjunctive Pronouns.
216. In English the interrogative pronouns who, what,
which and the definite pronoun that are used also as relative
(and conjunctive) pronouns. That when used as a relative
is indeclinable, as in the men that were hereyesterday compared
with those men, being used also only as a noun, not as an
adjective. The use of ivho, what, which as relatives is parallel
to their use as interrogatives : the relative who is used only
as a noun, the relatives what and which both as nouns and
as adjectives, the use of these three pronouns as regards
inflection being much the same when they are relative as
when they are interrogative. The English relative pronouns
also agree with the interrogative pronouns in making no
distinctions of person ; thus who can refer to / as well as to
he or to a noun : /, who know all about it — he who knows —
the man who knows.
217. The relative pronoun makes the clause it introduces
— the relative clause — into an adjunct to some noun-word —
called the antecedent — in the principal clause. Thus in /
know the man who was here yesterday, the clause who was
here yesterday is an adjunct to the antecedent man in the
principal clause / know the man ; and in / say it who know it,
the antecedent is the pronoun /. It is easy to see that a
relative clause is an adjunct, because we can often substitute
an adjunct- word — generally a participle (adjective- verbal) —
for the relative clause without change of meaning, as in the
window looking on the garden, the lost child— the window ivhich
looks on the garden, the child that was lost or the child which
was lost. Sometimes the whole of the principal sentence
constitutes the antecedent, which is then a sentence-antece-
dent, as in / said nothing, which made him still more angry,
where / said nothing is equivalent to such a word-group
(noun -group) as my saying nothing or my silence.
§ 220.] PRONOUNS. 8j
218. In the above examples the relative clause is logically,
as well as formally, an adjunctj subordinate to its antecedent.
But in some cases a relative pronoun is used to join on a
clause which is logically coordinate (45) to the principal
clause. Thus in the sentence I fold John, who fold his brother,
and he /old his wife, the relative pronoun who has exactly the
same meaning as and he in the following sentence. We call
such relatives — which are equivalent to and+ personal pro-
noun, being thus relatives in form only — progressive
relative noun-pronouns.
In spoken English relative noun-pronouns are omitted in
certain constructions, as in the man I saw yesterday = \hz literary
the man whom I saw yesterday.
219. The function of a relative adjective-pronoun is to
make the noun it qualifies relative, the combination relative
adjective + noun being thus equivalent to a relative noun-
pronoun. Thus in the last example in § 217 we might refer
to / said nothing by the relative group which proceeding
instead of the simple noun-relative which : I said nothing,
which proceeding of mine made him still more angry. So also
we might refer to Plato as which philosopher instead of simply
as who.
220. It sometimes happens that the antecedent to a rela-
tive noun-pronoun is not expressed either by a noun-word or
a sentence, the relative itself doing duty for the antecedent as
well. Such a relative is called a condensed relative (112).
Only who and what are used as condensed relatives, what
being the more frequent of the two in this use. The clause
introduced by a condensed relative precedes, instead of
following, the principal clause: what you say is quite true]
what I say I mean ; what is done cannot be undone ; whomever)
said that zuas mistaken. In the first of these sentences the
condensed relative what is the object of the verb say in the
VOL. I. G
82 INTRODUCTION. [§221.
relative clause, and is at the same time the subject of the
verb is in the principal clause, while in the second sentence
it is the object in both clauses, and in the third sentence it is
the subject in both clauses. If we alter the construction
of such sentences, the missing antecedent is often restored :
it is quite true what you say ; if I say a thing, I mean it.
Nevertheless, in such a sentence as what you say is quite true
we are not sensible of any omission, because we feel that what
unites in itself relative and antecedent : it is relative by virtue
of its form, while its prominent position at the beginning of
the clause-group seems to make it belong to the principal
clause also.
221. The interrogative pronouns are also used as con-
junctive pronouns in English. A conjunctive pronoun
makes the clause it introduces — the conjunctive clause— into
an adjunct to the verb in the principal clause, which we may
call the antecedent verb. Thus in I know who you are,
the conjunctive pronoun who is the subject of the verb are in
the conjunctive clause who you are, and this conjunctive
clause is an adjunct to the verb know in the principal clause,
standing in the same direct object relation to this verb as
the noun-word you in / know you. In / wonder what he
meant, I asked what he meant^ what is the object of the verb
of the conjunctive clause, and this clause is the object of the
verb of the principal clause. In such a sentence as this is
what I mean, the conjunctive what is the object of the verb
of the conjunctive clause, and this clause stands in apposition
to the subject of the principal clause, being therefore in the
nominative relation.
222. Such a sentence as this is what I mean may be
changed into what I mean is this with a 'condensed relative
instead of a conjunctive. So also / say what I mean=ivhai
I say I mean. If we confined ourselves to such sentences as
these, we might be inclined to regard a conjunctive pronoun
§ 225.] PRONOUNS. 83
as condensed or contracted: this is what I mean = this is that
which I mean. But we do not feel such a sentence as /
know who you are to be equivalent to / know him who you
are or / know the man who you are ; and even / say what 1
mean has not exactly the same meaning as what I say I mean.
223. So far from identifying conjunctive with condensed
relative pronouns, we do not feel them to be relative at all,
but rather associate them with the interrogative pronouns.
Not only do we use the same pronouns conjunctively which
we use interrogatively, but the form of a conjunctive sentence
is identical with that of an indirect interrogation. Thus /
asked what he meant is both an indirect interrogation sentence
and a conjunctive sentence. All indirect interrogation sen-
tences are necessarily conjunctive, although all conjunctive
sentences are not interrogative. But even in an affirmative
conjunctive sentence such as / know what he means, the what
is felt to introduce a sort of answer to the implied question
what does he mean? The affinity between conjunctive and
interrogative sentences is also shown in such sentences as
/ know who you are, where the grammatical predicate in the
conjunctive clause is the unmeaning form-word are, the real
logical predicate being who, exactly as in the interrogative
sentence who are you? (215).
Definite Pronouns.
224. The definite pronouns this, that, the are primarily
adjectives. Such definite pronouns as the and yonder are
used only as adjectives, and although this and that are used
as nouns as well as adjectives, yet we generally think of them
as qualifying some noun.
225. Definite pronouns fall under various subdivisions.
Demonstrative pronouns point to something in space or
time, as in this house, lhat day. Reference pronouns
(generally included under demonstratives) point to some-
thing in thought. When we talk of this man, thai man, or
G 2
84 INTRODUCTION. [§ 226.
the man, meaning a man that has just been mentioned, this,
that and the are reference pronouns. The, \vhich is the typical
reference adjective-pronoun, is called the definite article.
As we see, this and that are both demonstrative and reference
pronouns, while the is a reference pronoun only. Reference
pronouns are distinguished as back-pointing and for-
wards-pointing, according as they refer to something that
has been said or to something that is to follow. Thus that
in / know that is back- pointing, while this in this is what I
mean is forwards-pointing.
226. The distinction between definite and indefinite
applies also to personal pronouns. Thus he is definite,
they in they say indefinite. The distinction between demon-
strative and reference pronouns applies also to the definite
personal pronoun; thus in who is he? meaning 'who is the
man standing there ? ' he is a place-demonstrative. The
main difference between the personal and the definite pro-
nouns is that the former are primarily nouns, while the
definite pronouns are primarily adjectives.
227. Such is a definite pronoun of quantity and quality
when used as an adjective, as in such a quantity, I never
heard such nonsense. In its rarer use as a noun it approaches
very near in meaning to an ordinary personal pronoun, as in
of such is the kingdom of heaven.
228. The same, as in the same day, I will do the same, may
be regarded -as a definite pronoun of identity.
Indefinite Pronouns.
229. The most important of the indefinite pronouns is the
indefinite article a, an, which, like the definite article, is
used only as an adjective. The indefinite article puts a
mark on a noun, but without identifying or defining it, having
thus a function exactly contrary to that of the definite article:
a man wants to speak to you ; I do not know who he is ; he is
not the man who was here yeslerday. The noun-pronoun
§ 233-1 PRONOUNS. 85
most nearly corresponding to the indefinite article is the
indefinite personal pronoun one. they = French on. The
indefinite one must be distinguished from the numeral one
(237); it is used both as an indefinite personal pronoun
and as a prop-word (180).
230. Other indefinite pronouns are some in some bread, any
in any knife will do, the corresponding negative no (absolute
none), for which not any is substituted in spoken English, as
in / have not any bread, I have not any = the literary / have
no bread, I have none. The nouns corresponding to these
adjective-pronouns are formed with prop-words : someone,
somebody ', something ; anyone, anybody, anything ; no one,
nobody, nothing.
231. Other (the other, another), in the sense of ' different/
as in give me another plate, this one is not clean ; / like the
other (book) best, is an indefinite pronoun of quality. In the
sense of ' additional,' ' another of the same kind/ as in
give me another piece of bread, it is a quantitative pronoun
(235). The group-pronoun one another is used as a reciprocal
(210).
Quantitative Pronouns.
232. Quantity is of two kinds, (a) continuous quantity,
expressed by such words as size, big, long, much, less, and (b)
discrete or broken quantity, called ' number/ expressed by
such words as number, numerous, count, three, both, many.
Many quantitative nouns and adjectives, such as size, num-
ber, big, long, numerous, have nothing to distinguish them
grammatically from ordinary nouns and adjectives, while
others, such as much, less, both, many, have more or less of
the formal characteristics of pronouns.
233. Many of the pronouns included under the other
classes imply quantity. Thus the indefinite some in some
bread implies 'not much/ / implies 'one/ etc. But these
words only imply quantity, the expression of distinctions of
86 INTRODUCTION. [§ 234.
quantity not being their main function, and therefore it is
not necessary to class them as specially quantitative.
234. The chief pronouns of continuous quantity are much,
more, as in more bread, most [more and most are also
pronouns of number], a little, as in a little bread \little by
itself is an ordinary adjective, as also in a little loaf, etc.],
less, least, all the, the whole, as in all the day, the whole day
[all by itself is a pronoun of number, and whole by itself is
an ordinary adjective], enough.
235. The pronouns of number are distinguished as col-
lective and separative. A collective pronoun, such as all,
makes us think of a number of objects in a mass ; a separa-
tive pronoun, such as each, makes us think of them one by
one. The collective pronouns are : the emphatic some, as in
some people think so [the unemphatic some in some bread, 1
saw some people there, is an indefinite pronoun], several, few,
many, more, as in more men than women, most, all; both, other in
the sense of ' additional ' (231). The separative pronouns
are: every, each, the alternative either •=' one of two' with its
negative neither, several in they went their several ways,
There are also nouns formed with prop-words: everyone,
everybody, everything, each one. The group pronoun each
other is used as a reciprocal (210).
Negative Pronouns.
236. The pronouns beginning with n- are negative or
not-pronouns. Neither is the negative corresponding to the
positive either. No and its absolute form none are in form
negatives of one, though in meaning they are negatives of
any, not any being indeed substituted for no, none in spoken
English (230). From no are formed the noun-pronouns
no one, nobody, nothing.
§ 240.] NUMERALS. 87
Numerals.
237. The numerals one, two, three, etc. differ from the
pronouns of number, such as some, many, all, in expressing
distinctions of discrete quantity definitely instead of in-
definitely. The difference between one the numeral and one
the pronoun (229) is that the numeral one makes us think of
' one ' as opposed to ' two ' etc., while one the pronoun makes
us think only of a vague singling out from an indefinite
number of objects, the meaning ' oneness ' being so much
forgotten that we use one as a prop-word in the plural — some
good ones.
238. Numerals, being intended to give definite inform-
ation, have nothing of the character of mark-words about
them. In form, however, they have all the characteristics of
pronouns. They can be used freely both as adjectives, as in
three men, we are seven, and as nouns : the three, all three,
three of us, by twos and threes.
239. The above remarks apply mainly to cardinal nu-
merals— one, two, three, ten, hundred, etc. Ordinal numerals
— first, second, third, tenth, hundredth, etc. — are primarily
adjectives, their use as nouns being limited like that of the
other adjectives.
Verbs.
FORM.
240. The ordinary inflections of an English verb — includ-
ing the verbals — are as follows : —
(a) Third person, singular number, present tense, indica-
tive mood : calls, sees.
(&) Preterite tense : called, saw.
(c) Present participle and gerund : calling, seeing.
(d) Preterite participle : called, seen.
In most verbs the finite preterite and the preterite parti-
ciple have the same form — called.
88 INTRODUCTION. [§241.
241. The common form call expresses four grammatical
categories : (a) present indicative, with the exception of the
third person singular (calls), as in I call, they call] (6) pre-
sent subjunctive, as in if he call; (c) imperative mood, as in
call ! ; (</) infinitive, as in let him call.
242. In English, verbs are modified partly by inflection,
partly by form-words — particles and verbs — \vhich latter
constitute the periphrastic forms of the verb. Inflections
and periphrastic forms together make up the conjugation
of a verb.
243. The form-particle to (preposition or adverb) is pre-
fixed to the common form of the verb, this combination
constituting the supine or periphrastic infinitive, as in / wish
to see, which has the same grammatical function as the infini-
tive in / will see. Hence we often include the supine under
the term infinitive. The adverb not also enters into the peri-
phrastic forms of the verb, especially in the spoken language,
as in / don't know, which is the negative form of / know.
244. The form-verbs used to modify the English verb are
called auxiliary verbs, or auxiliaries. The chief auxiliaries
are be, have, do, will, shall, may. When a full verb is asso-
ciated with an auxiliary, it is always made into a verbal, so
that the function of predication is transferred to the auxiliary.
Thus the finite inflected verb in the present indicative he sees
becomes an infinitive in the future tense he will see, a present
participle in the definite indicative he is seeing, and a preterite
participle in the perfect tense he has seen. If, as is often the
case, a periphrastic form is made up of more than one
auxiliary, only one of these keeps its finite form, all the others
being made into verbals, as in he has been seeing, he will
have seen, where has and will are the only finite verbs.
Many of the auxiliaries are used also as full verbs. Thus
'will in 1 luill do it, whether you like it or not is not a form-
word, but a full word meaning ' I am determined to.' Such
combinations do not form part of the verb-conjugation.
§ 248.] VERBS: MEANING. 89
We have seen that inflecting a noun and putting a preposition
before it express the same grammatical function (78), so that
of men stands to men's in the same relation as he has seen to
he saw, although the two verb-forms differ slightly in meaning.
But while it is most convenient to treat of noun-inflections and
the use of prepositions separately, the inflectional and peri-
phrastic forms of the verb are so mixed up that in treating of
the meanings of verb-forms it is impossible to separate them.
Thus / see and I do see differ only in the latter being more
emphatic.
245. In English the finite verb must always be accom-
panied by a subject-word, except in the imperative (see!).
If there is no other noun-word, a personal pronoun must
be used : the man came ; I know who came ; he came.
Hence the addition of the unmeaning it in it rains (202).
The pronouns are omitted only in colloquial, elliptical phrases,
such as dorit know— I don't know.
MEANING.
246. The primary use of verbs as regards their meaning
is to express phenomena (changing attributes), as in come, fall,
grow, die [compare the permanent attribute-word dead\
walk, strike, see, live, think. In other verbs the idea of
phenomenality is less predominant, as in live, shine — com-
pared vi\i\\ flash, twinkle ; stand — compared with/a-//, rise ; lie,
sleep. In exist, which is the most abstract and general of all
verbs that have an independent meaning, we can realise the
sense of phenomenality only by the contrast with non-existence.
247. Verbs are classed according to their meaning as
transitive and intransitive, reflexive, reciprocal, im-
personal.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.
248. Transitive verbs, such as strike, see, like, require a
noun-word or noun-equivalent in the direct object relation to
serve as complement to them, that is, complete their mean-
ing, as in he struck him ; the man saw the boy ; boys like jam ;
90 INTRODUCTION. [§ 249.
/ do not like having my hair cut. Verbs which do not take a
direct-object noun-word after them are called intransitive,
such as come, fall, live. It is easier to form a complete sen-
tence with an intransitive than with a transitive verb, as in
he fell, the tree lives. But transitive verbs can also stand
without any object-noun, not only when the object-noun
may be understood from the context, as in / see, meaning
1 1 see what you mean/ but also when the object idea is so
vague or uncertain that it is not necessary or easy so to ex-
press it, as in blind men saw, where saw means 'saw things
in general/ that is, ' received the power of sight/ In I see=
* I see what you mean/ the verb is fully transitive — the omis-
sion of the object-word or word-group being only an ellipse
— while in blind men saw it may be regarded as half
intransitive.
249. Transitive verbs are sometimes used without an
object-word for a different reason, namely, that their
grammatical subject is logically their direct object, as in
the book sells well, meat will not keep in hot weather, which
mean ' they are selling the book well/ ' we cannot keep meat
in hot weather/ the subject not being expressed because of
its indefiniteness, just as the object is not expressed in blind
men saw for the same reason. We call sells and keep in such
constructions passival verbs.
This inversion of the relations between subject and object is
also expressed by a definite grammatical form called the passive
voice (311).
250. Intransitive verbs can often be converted into transi-
tives by a slight change of meaning, as in the groom walks
the horse aboztt, where ivalk means ' cause to walk/ ' make
walk/ So also in Iran a thorn into my finger compared with
a thorn ran into my finger. Such transitives are called causa-
tive verbs.
For the converse change of a transitive verb into an intransi-
tive, as in to stop short, see § 255.
§253.] VERBS: MEANING. 91
251. When an intransitive verb requires a noun-word to
complete its meaning, the noun-word is joined to it by a
preposition, forming a prepositional complement, as in
he came to London ; he looked at the house ; I thought of that \ he
thinks of going abroad. We can see from these examples
that the distinction between transitive and intransitive is
mainly formal, for think of and the transitive verb consider in
I considered that have practically the same meaning, and think
itself is used transitively in some phrases, as / thought as
much. So also the slight difference in meaning between he
looked at the house and he saw the house has nothing to do
with one verb being intransitive, the other transitive. The
meaning of a transitive as well as an intransitive verb may
be extended or defined by a preposition-group, as in to fill a
glass with water, to accuse a person of dishonesty. When
the combination of an intransitive verb with a preposition is
logically equivalent to a transitive verb, we call the com-
bination a group-verb. Thus think of is the group-verb
corresponding to the transitive verb consider.
252. When an intransitive verb takes a noun in the com-
mon form after it, as in to run a mile, to stop the night, these
nouns are not ordinary complement-nouns, as in to slop a
horse, to stop in the house, but are equivalent to adverbs.
Thus the night in to slop the night stands in the same relation
to stop as the adverb or adverb-group in to stop long, to stop
for a short time. We call a mile and the night in such con-
structions adverbial objects of the verb.
253. Sometimes an intransitive verb is followed by a noun
in the common form which repeats the meaning of the verb,
as in sleep the sleep of the just, fight a good fight, where the
noun is simply the verb converted into a noun, and in fight a
battle, run a race, where the noun repeats the meaning, but
not the form, of the verb. Such object-nouns are called
cognate objects. A cognate object-noun must necessarily
be an abstract noun.
92 INTRODUCTION. [§ 254.
Reflexive Verbs.
254. In such a sentence as he contradicts himself, we have
a transitive verb followed by a reflexive pronoun in the
object- relation. So also in to wash oneself ^ to keep oneself in
the background. But in to wash in cold water, to keep in the
background, to keep quiet, the reflexivity is not expressed by
any pronoun, but is implied in the verb itself, which is thus
changed from a transitive into an intransitive reflexive
verb.
Some languages have special inflections or other formal
marks to show when a verb is used in a reflexive sense, such
as the Greek 'middle voice' (316).
255. It often happens that after a verb has been changed
in this way, the reflexive meaning is lost sight of, so that all
we feel is the change from transitive to intransitive. Thus,
while such intransitives as to wash and dress have a definitively
reflexive meaning, to keep in to keep quiet is hardly felt to be
equivalent to keep oneself, but rather to ' remain/ ' stay/ etc.
So also there is nothing specially reflexive in to stop the night,
although in he stopped short^1 he pulled himself up/ the re-
flexive meaning still lingers. We may call these verbs con-
verted intransitives. .The greater the change of meaning
in a converted intransitive, the less there remains of the re-
flexive meaning. Thus the intransitive stole in he stole away
is so detached in meaning from the transitive steal that we do
not now regard the former as reflexive.
In some languages the combination of a transitive verb with
a reflexive pronoun is used passivally. Thus in French, se vend,
literally ' sells itself,' is used to mean ' is sold/ being thus equi-
valent to sells in the book sells well.
Reciprocal Verbs.
256. In such sentences as they fought each other, they
fought one another, we quarrelled with each other, we have the
combination of a verb with a reciprocal pronoun. If these
§259-1 VERBS: FUNCTION. 93
pronouns are dropped, and the idea of reciprocity is implied
in the verb itself, it becomes a reciprocal verb, a transitive
verb becoming intransitive at the same time. Fight and
quarrel are reciprocal verbs in such sentences as those two
dogs always fght when they meet ; we quarrelled, and made it
up again. In such a verb as meet in we shall meet again soon,
the reciprocal meaning is less prominent.
Impersonal Verbs.
257. Impersonal verbs, such as to rain, to freeze, to snow,
to thunder, are words expressing natural phenomena, and
uniting logical subject and predicate in one word, raining,
for instance, being equivalent to ' drops of water falling from
the sky/ or, more briefly, ' falling water/ So also to freeze
means that the temperature of the air is below freezing-point,
while in it thunders ' sky ' might be regarded as the logical
subject. Hence, when such a noun as rain is made into a
verb, it not only does not require, but cannot take, a logical
subject, whether expressed by a noun or a pronoun. But as
in English a finite verb must be preceded by a noun-word of
some kind, the unmeaning it is prefixed as a prop-word — a
purely grammatical empty subject-word. These verbs are
called ' impersonal ' because they allow of no variations of
person. Nor can they be used in the plural.
Of course there is nothing to prevent these verbs from being
made into personal verbs by a metaphorical change of meaning,
as when we speak of thundering out a command.
FUNCTION.
258. The grammatical function of a finite verb is to serve
as a predicate-word, that is, in an ordinary affirmative sen-
tence to state something about the subject of the sentence,
which is expressed by a noun- word or noun-equivalent word-
group : the sun shines ; he sleeps ; to stand all day tires one ;
standing tires me ; that you should think so surprises me.
259. Although in English the verb must have a subject-
94 INTRODUCTION. [§ 260.
word before it, except in the imperative (309), it must be
observed that the inflectional s in comes is equivalent to a
pronoun, for it tells us that the verb must refer to he, she or
it as subject if it does not refer to some other noun-word.
Hence in he comes the subject is really expressed twice over
= ' he come-he/
260. In highly inflected languages, such as Latin, where
each person of the verb has a distinct ending, the personal
pronouns are superfluous, and are therefore prefixed only for
emphasis, so that in Latin venio ( come-I ' can stand alone
as a sentence-word. Even in English the imperative come !
does not require a pronoun, because it would be superfluous,
command being necessarily in the second person.
261. But although the Latin venio and the English come /
are sentence-words, the predicative element predominates in
them. In such a Latin sentence as Caesar venit ' Caesar
comes/ where the subject is a noun of very definite and
special meaning, the inflection of the verb becomes a mere
mark of concord, like the s of comes. In English, too, we can
expand come ! into come thou /, making come into an exclu-
sively predicative word.
262. Although verbs are necessary for predication, there
are many verbs which are incapable of forming logical pre-
dicates by themselves, and require the help of some other
part of speech — generally an adjective-word or noun-word.
There is one verb, indeed — the verb to be — which is abso-
lutely unmeaning by itself. Thus he is conveys no sense
whatever. It tells us that predication is intended, but we can-
not tell what that predication is till some other word is added
— he is ready, he is a lawyer, he is here. We call such verbs
link-verbs, because they serve to connect the predicate with
its subject. To be is a pure link-verb, that is, a pure form-
word, devoid of independent meaning, although having the
inflections of a verb enables it to express distinctions of time
§266.] VERBS: FUNCTION. 95
and other shades of meaning, as in he ivas here compared
with he is here.
263. Other link-words, while having the same grammatical
function of connecting subject and predicate, have also definite
meanings of their own. Thus turn and become in he turned
red, he became a Methodist, while connecting subject and pre-
dicate in the same way as to be does, have also the meaning
' change/ Thus he turned red combines the meanings ' he
changed ' and ' he is red ' or 'he was red/ So also look,
seem in he looks pleased, he seems pleased. But although these
verbs have some independent meaning of their own, none of
them can stand alone : we cannot say he became, he seems with-
out a predicative complement, and we can make he turns stand
alone only by changing its meaning and function so that it is
no longer a link-verb.
264. All link-verbs are necessarily intransitive. Many in-
transitive verbs which are not regular link-verbs — that is to
say, which can stand alone without any predicative complement
— are occasionally used as such. We call such verbs half
link-verbs. Examples are : the tree grew tall] he lived a
saint, and died a martyr. We feel that the first of these sen-
tences is equivalent to ' the tree grew, and became tall/ tall
being not merely a predicate to tree, but serving also to
modify grew. In such a sentence as the invalid greiv strong
again, grew is a pure link-verb, being equivalent to became.
265. Verbs are often followed by more than one noun- word
standing to them in different relations.
266. The most frequent case is when a transitive verb is
followed by a direct and an indirect object, as in give it me,
where it is the direct object of the verb, and me its indirect
object, standing in the interest-relation. In such combina-
tions the two objects do not stand in any special relation to
one another, being connected together only indirectly by
being objects to the same verb.
96 INTRODUCTION. [§ 267.
267. But in such combinations as they made him king,
they elected Sir Isaac Neivton president, the first noun-word
after the transitive verb is its direct object, and the second
noun- word is a complement to the other one : they made him
makes us ask ' made him what ?', and this. question is answered
by the noun king, which we call the object-complement.
But these object-complements are also connected with the
verb itself, as we see by changing these sentences into they
made a king of him ; they elected a president, namely Sir Isaac
Newton. King, therefore, in they made him king is at the
same time the direct object of make and the complement to
him. So also in they called him a fool', they called him bad
names ; the examiners asked me three questions. The object
complement can be an infinitive or supine, that is, a noun-
verbal : / saw him come ; I want him to come ; Hike boys to be
quiet. It can also be an adjective or adjective-verbal
(participle) : to paint a house white ; they made him angry ; /
saw him coming ; / saw it done.
FORM-CLASSES.
268. The forms which make up the conjugation of a finite
verb are classed under the grammatical categories of number,
person, tense, mood, and voice. There are also some
other miscellaneous categories included under the head of
' forms/
Number.
269. The only grammatical category that verbs have in
common with nouns is that of number, although it is ex-
pressed in totally different ways in these two parts of speech.
In the regular English verbs the only distinction between
singular and plural is that the third person present indicative
ends in j in the singular, as in he sees, they see, all the other
persons having the common form in the singular as well as
the plural, so that there is no inflectional distinction between
§273.] VERBS: TENSE. 97
I see and we see, etc. There is no distinction made in the
preterite : he saw, they saw. More distinctions are made in
some of the irregular verbs : / am, we are ; he was, they
were.
There are no distinctions of gender in the English verb, as
there are in the Arabic verb, and in such Latin periphrastic
forms as miratus est ' he wondered,' mlrata est ' she wondered.'
Person.
270. There are three persons of verbs, first, second, and
third, corresponding to the three persons of the personal pro-
nouns. The only personal inflection of the English regular
verbs is the s of the third person singular present indicative
— he sees. In the other forms of the regular verb there are
no distinctions of person. Some of the irregular verbs make
further distinctions : I am, you are, he is, we are.
Tense.
271. The only tense which is expressed by inflection in
English is the preterite (7 called, I saw], the absence of the
preterite inflection constituting the present tense (7 call, I see).
The other tenses are formed by means of auxiliaries, thus the
future (/ shall see, he will see) is formed by the combination
of the auxiliary shall or will with the infinitive, the perfect
tense (I have seen) consists of have+ihe preterite participle,
the definite tenses (/ am seeing, I was seeing) consist of be
+ the present participle.
272. Tense is primarily the grammatical expression of
distinctions of time.
273. Every occurrence, considered from the point of view
of time, must be either past, as in / was here yesterday, pre-
sent, as in he is here today, he is here now, or future, as in he
will be here tomorrow. We call was the preterite tense of
the verb to be — using ' past ' as a general term to include
other varieties of past time besides the preterite — is the pre-
sent, and will be the future tense of the same verb,
VOL. i. H
98 INTRODUCTION. [§ 274.
Simple and Compound Tenses.
274. The present, preterite, and future are simple tenses.
But there are also compound tenses, the most important of
which belong to the perfect-group, comprising the perfect,
pluperfect, and future perfect. These compound tenses
combine present, past and future respectively with a time
anterior to each of these periods : perfect (present perfect) =
preterite + present, pluperfect (past perfect) =pre-preterite-f
preterite, and future perfect =pre-future + future.
275. The perfect (I have seen] combines past and present
time. Thus I have come in the sentence / have come to see you
combines the two ideas ' I came here ' and ' I am here now.'
So also he has lived here a good many years means that he
lived here in the past, and lives here in the present. The
perfect therefore expresses an occurrence which began in the
past and is connected with the present, either by actual con-
tinuance up to the present time, as in the latter example, or
in its results, as in the former example, where although the
action of coming is completed, its result — namely 'being
here ' — is felt to belong to the present. The simple pre-
terite, on the other hand, expresses a past occurrence without
any reference to the present. Often, indeed, the preterite
entirely cuts away an occurrence from the present ; thus the
preterite he lived here for some time implies that ' he ' is dead, or
has gone to live somewhere else. Although the preterite in
/ came to see you does not necessarily imply ' I went away
again,' it certainly detaches the coming from the present, or;
at any rate, throws more emphasis on the coming here in the
past than on the being here in present. Hence / came to see
you and / have come to see you really express the same rela-
tions of time, but from different points of view.
276. The pluperfect (/ had seen) stands in the same rela-
tion to the simple preterite as the perfect does to the present,
that is, it expresses an occurrence which took place before
§279.] VERBS: TENSE. 99
the time denoted by a preterite tense, and yet continuing
into the latter; thus in the sentence when I had seen everything
in Edinburgh, I went on to Glasgow, the action expressed
by had seen is shown to have taken place before that expressed
by went, and yet the two actions are felt to be connected
together.
277. The future perfect (/ shall have seen) stands in the
same relation to the simple future ; that is, it expresses an
occurrence taking place in the future, and yet before the
occurrence expressed by the accompanying simple future, the
two occurrences being regarded as connected together in the
same way as in the perfect and pluperfect, as in / shall have
finished my letter by the time you come back, where come, though
a present in form, is logically a future, and would be expressed
by a future tense in many languages.
278. The future-group of compound tenses is repre-
sented by the future preterite. If we regard an occurrence
as impending in the past instead of in the present, we have
the future preterite tense (/ should see, he would see), as in
/ knew how it would turn out, compared with / know how it
will turn out, where will turn is simple future.
Primary and Secondary Tenses.
279. When we speak of an occurrence as past, etc., we
must have some point of time from which to measure it.
When we measure the time of an occurrence from the time
when we are speaking, that is, from the present, the tense
which expresses the time of the occurrence is called a primary
tense. The present, preterite, future, and perfect are
primary tenses. A secondary tense, on the other hand, is
measured, not from the time when we are speaking, but from
some past or future time of which we are speaking, and
consequently a sentence containing a secondary tense makes
us expect another sentence containing a verb in a primary
H 2
100 INTRODUCTION. [§ 280.
tense to show the time from which that of the secondary
tense is to be measured. The pluperfect and future perfect
are both secondary tenses. Thus such a sentence as / had
finished writing my letter makes us expect another sentence
containing a preterite, such as when he came — I had finished
writing my letter when he came. The definite preterite (I was
seeing] is also a secondary tense, as in / was writing a letter
when he came. These two tenses are both measured from
a past primary tense. The future perfect (/ shall have
seen) is measured from a future primary tense.
280. The primary tense required to supplement a secon-
dary tense need not always be expressed if it is clear from
the context. Thus we can shorten 7 am glad you have come
at last: I have been waiting for you a long time into 1 have
been waiting for you a long time.
When a secondary tense is freely used without being referred
to an expressed primary tense, it is called an independent
secondary tense. The Latin ' imperfect ' (videbam], which
otherwise corresponds to the English definite preterite (was
seeing) is an independent secondary preterite : Verres mflam-
matus furore in forum venit (preterite) ; ardebant (imperfect)
ociili) toto ex ore crudelitas eminebat (imperfect), 'Verres,
inflamed with passion, came into the forum ; his eyes gleamed,
in his whole countenance ferocity was conspicuous.' Here the
gleaming of Verres' eyes is stated as an independent fact, but
not as an isolated one, being put in the imperfect to show that
it was going on while something else happened, namely his
coming into the forum. In English, on the other hand, we
cannot indicate this subordination without associating the
primary and secondary tense more closely together: when
Verres came into the forum , his eyes were gleaming.
Complete and Incomplete Tenses.
281. It is evident that an occurrence of which we speak
in the present must be incomplete at the time, for if it were
completed, it would no longer belong to the present. Thus
the clock is striking twelve implies that it is in the middle of
§283.] VERBS: TENSE. IO1
striking, and that we know beforehand that there ought to
be, and probably will be, twelve strokes. As soon as the
last stroke has sounded, we are obliged to use the perfect,
and say the clock has (just) struck twelve. Here the perfect
denotes completion in the present : it is a complete perfect.
So also in / have lived my life meaning ' the active part of
my life is over/ / have lived is a complete perfect. But in
/ have lived here a good many years, I have lived is an in-
complete perfect, for the speaker is necessarily implied to
be still living in the place referred to.
In Latin the tense called 'perfect' (vtdt) corresponds not
only to the English perfect (/ have seen], but also to the
English preterite (I saw], so that the idea of past time is more
prominent in it than in the English perfect. Hence it is used
only as a complete perfect, the English incomplete perfect
being expressed in Latin by the present, as in jam diu hie
habito ' I have lived here a long time,' literally ' I live here
already long.'
282. When we distinguish between complete and incom-
plete secondary tenses, we mean, of course, complete or
incomplete with reference to the accompanying primary
tenses. Thus in / had written my letter when he came, the
action of writing is represented as being finished at the time
denoted by the preterite came, so that / had written is here a
complete (pluperfect) tense. In / was writing a letter when
he came, on the other hand, the action of writing is represented
as going on at the time shown by the preterite came, so that
/ was writing is here an incomplete (definite preterite) tense.
Tense-aspects: Duration, etc.
283. By tense-aspect we understand distinctions of time
independent of any reference to past, present, or future.
Thus the duration of an occurrence is independent of the
relation of the time of the occurrence to the time when we
are speaking or of which we are speaking. The distinction
of duration between fell and lay in he fell down, and he lay
102 INTRODUCTION. [§ 284.
there nearly an hour, or between to laugh and to burst out
laughing has, of course, nothing to do with grammar, because
it is not shown by any grammatical forms, but by the meaning
of the words themselves. But in some languages such dis-
tinctions of meaning are shown by inflection. Thus in
Greek the present infinitive geldn means ' to laugh/ the
' aorist ' infinitive geldsai means * to burst out laughing.' We
may call the former of these a long tense, the latter a short
tense. In English the definite perfect / have been seeing
generally expresses duration, as in / have been writing ktters
all day compared with / have written only one letter to-day.
I have been writing is, therefore, a long tense. I have written,
on the other hand, is neutral as regards duration, being
sometimes a short, sometimes a long tense. Long tenses
may be either continuous or recurrent, denoting repe-
tition, habit, etc. Thus we have a continuous present in he
lives in the country, a recurrent present in he goes to Germany
twice a year. The absolute duration of an occurrence is
often disregarded in language, an occurrence of considerable
length being often put on a level with one that is quite short
or even instantaneous. This is generally the case when a
succession of occurrences are narrated. Thus in describing
a journey, we passed through . . , we stopped a minute . . ,
we stopped three days . . , we set out for . . are all regarded
simply as points in a series. When tenses are used in this
way, without regard to their absolute duration, we may call
them point-tenses.
284. There are many other tense-aspects of more special
meaning. Thus futurity may be regarded from various
points of view, according to the certainty or uncertainty of
the impending occurrence, or its nearness or remoteness.
In English we have an immediate future formed with the
auxiliary go, as in / am afraid it is going to rain, compared
with / am afraid it will rain to-morrow.
285. Some languages have special inchoative tenses to
§ 288.] VERBS: TENSE. 103
express an occurrence as only just beginning, or an action
as only attempted. Those languages which have not special
forms for this purpose sometimes use various incomplete
tenses instead. Thus in Latin the imperfect (280. i) is
used to express attempt, as in consults seddbant tumultum
1 the consuls tried to put down the disturbance,' compared
with consults seddverunt (perfect tumultum ' the consuls put
down the disturbance/
286. We can see from this last example that a tense
which was originally meant only to express distinctions of
time may come to imply a variety of special meanings.
Thus, as present time is necessarily incomplete (281), past
time naturally — though not necessarily — suggests completion.
Future time suggests uncertainty. When an occurrence ex-
pressed by a secondary tense is thought of as going on
when something else, expressed by a primary tense,
happens, we connect the former with the idea of long
duration, the latter with that of short duration (283).
287. It is these implied meanings which make it often
difficult to compare the tenses of one language with those of
another, or to define their exact meanings.
Definite and Indefinite Tenses.
288. Tenses differ greatly in definiteness. The shorter a
tense is, the more definite it generally is both in duration
and in its relation to the distinctions of past, present, and
future. Long tenses — whether continuous or recurrent —
are generally more indefinite. The difference between a
definite and an indefinite tense is seen by comparing the
English definite present in / am writing a letter with the
indefinite I write my letters in the evening ; the former means
' 1 am writing at this present moment,' the latter means
' when I write letters, I write them in the evening/ So also
the shorter the interval between present and future, the more
definite the time of the future occurrence is, and the more
104 INTRODUCTION. [§ 289.
likely it is to come off; hence the immediate future (284) is
more definite than the ordinary future.
289. We see that the indefinite present (/ write] includes,
to some extent, past and future as well as present. This is
especially the case in such statements as the sun rises in the
east, platinum is the heaviest metal. The verbs in such sen-
tences do not express any distinctions of time at all, and it
is only because predication and tense-distinctions are asso-
ciated together in verbs that we are obliged to put verbs in
such sentences in some one tense. For the purpose of such
statements the present is best suited, as being in itself the
most indefinite of the tenses. When the present is used in
this way without implying any real distinctions of time, we
call it the neutral present. Other tenses may be used as
neutral tenses. In Latin the perfect (' gnomic perfect ') is
employed as a neutral tense as well as the present.
290. Although we have confined ourselves hitherto to the
meanings of tenses, it must not be forgotten that 'tense*
always implies grammatical form. There are many ways of
expressing distinctions of time which have nothing to do
with tense. Thus in / start tomorrow futurity is expressed
by the adverb tomorrow, the verb itself being in the present
tense. We call I start present, because this form generally
expresses present time, and when a form has once received
a definite name, it keeps it through every variety of meaning.
Again, distinctions analogous to those expressed by tenses
may be expressed lexically by the use of distinct words
(283), or by grammatical forms distinct from tense-inflec-
tions. Thus distinctions of time may be expressed by
derivation, as in the Latin inchoative verbs in -sco, such as
albesco ' begin to grow white/ where the inchoative meaning
is part of the verb itself, and has nothing to do with tense.
In French, however, the derivative ending of the Latin
inchoatives was first extended to a variety of verbs which did
not take it in Latin, and was then restricted to certain tenses of
§ 293-] VERBS: MOOD. 105
these verbs, and so came to be part of pure tense-inflections, as
in the imperfect ilfinissait ' he finished,' which would answer to
a Latin *finlscebat ' began to finish,' the real Latin imperfect
bdng/mte&at.
291. After seeing how tenses develop all kinds of special
meanings out of what were originally only distinctions of
time, we need not be surprised to find tenses sometimes used
to express ideas which have no connection at all with distinc-
tions of time. Thus the preterite knew in if I knew his address
I would write to him, expresses present time just as much as
know in / know his address now, so I shall write to him, the
change of the present know into the preterite knew expressing
hypothesis as opposed to a statement of fact.
292. The following are the chief tenses used in English
in simple statements : —
Indefinite. Definite.
Present. I see. am seeing.
Preterite. I saw. was seeing.
Perfect. I have seen. have been seeing.
Pluperfect. I had seen. had been seeing.
Futttre. I shall see. shall be seeing.
Future Perfect. I shall have seen. shall have been seeing.
Preterite Future. I should see. should be seeing.
Mood.
293. By the moods of a verb we understand grammatical
forms expressing different relations between subject and pre-
dicate. Thus, if a language has special forms to express
commands as distinguished from statements, we include the
forms that express command under the term ' imperative
mood/ Thus in English come 1 is in the imperative mood,
while the statement he comes is in the ' indicative ' mood.
In many grammars the term 'mood' is still applied to the
infinitive, which is accordingly called 'the infinitive mood,'
although the infinitive, which is a noun-verbal, has nothing in
common with the moods of finite verbs.
106 INTRODUCTION. [§ 294.
294. From the po'nt of view of mood-distinctions state-
ments fall under two main divisions, according as they state
something as a fact or only as a thought. Thus it is true,
it is not true, I think so, are all meant to imply statement of
facts as opposed to mere thoughts. Whether such statements
are really true — really statements of facts — is no concern of
grammar, which deals only with the meaning of the form
itself. From a grammatical point of view, moreover, doubt-
ful statements, such as perhaps it is true, are just as much
statements of fact as the most positive assertions.
295. There are various ways of stating in the form of a
thought as opposed to a fact. The most unmistakeable one
is by stating in the form of a hypothesis, as when the fact-
statements it is true, it is not true, are made into the hypothe-
tical clauses if it is true, if it is not true. Here both pairs of
sentences offer us a subject and a predicate standing to one
another in the opposite relations of affirmation and negation,
but while the first two sentences express the affirmation and
negation as facts, the last two merely suggest them as objects
of thought. In fact, we often say supposing (that is, ' think-
ing ') it is true instead of if it is true. A hypothetical clause
requires a principal clause to complete the sense, the whole
combination being called a conditional sentence. Thus if
you are right, I am wrong is a conditional sentence, / am
wrong being the principal clause. Concessive clauses, such
as even if it is true, although it is true, are a variety of hypo-
thetical clauses.
296. Another way of stating something as a thought is by
stating it as a wish, as in God save the queen ! and / ivish it
were true, where / wish states a fact, it were true expresses a
wish. Clauses of purpose are a special class of wish-sen-
tences : / wrote to him that he might know I was at home ;
they took away the knife lest he should cut himself.
297. When we repeat a statement made by another person,
we can do so in different ways. We can quote his very
§ 299-] VERBS: MOOD. 107
words, as in John said, ' / am sorry! Here the speaker
makes his own statement, namely, that John said something,
and then lets John, as it were, make his own statement in his
own words, so that the whole sentence contains two separate
statements of facts. This way of repeating statements is
called direct narration. When the speaker repeats what
was said to him in his own words we have indirect narra-
tion, as mjohn said (thai) he was sorry. Here John's being
sorry is not stated by John himself at all. Nor is it stated
as a fact even by the speaker, who mentions it only as an
idea suggested to him by some one else. Hence the subject
of all indirect narration is a statement not of facts but of
thoughts.
298. We will now consider the expression of these dif-
ferent kinds of statement in language. When there are only
two moods in a language to express statements, a fact-mood
and a thought-mood, as is the case in Latin, French, German,
and Old English, these moods are distinguished as indica-
tive (fact-mood) and subjunctive (thought-mood). Some
languages have special moods to distinguish different kinds of
thought-statements. Thus Greek has, in addition to the
indicative and subjunctive moods, an optative mood, used
primarily to express wish, which in such languages as Latin
is expressed by the subjunctive.
299. In English the only inflectional moods are the in-
dicative and subjunctive. But the inflections of the English
verb are so scanty that we need not be surprised to find that
the distinction between indicative and subjunctive is very
slight. The only regular inflection by which the subjunctive
is distinguished from the indicative in English is that of the
third person singular present, which drops the s of the in-
dicative (he sees) in the subjunctive (he see). In the verb to
be, however, further distinctions are made : indicative / am,
he is, he was, subjunctive / be, he be, he were, although in the
108 INTRODUCTION. [§ 300.
spoken language the only distinction that is still kept up is
that between was and were. Consequently the sense of the
distinction in function between subjunctive and indicative has
almost died out in English, and we use the subjunctive were
only in combination with other mood-forms (301), the other
subjunctive inflections surviving only in a few special phrases
and constructions, such as God save the queen !, where the
subjunctive expresses wish, being thus equivalent to the Greek
optative.
300. The few distinctions that English makes between
fact-statements and thought-statements are mainly expressed,
not by inflections, but by auxiliaries (periphrastic moods),
and by peculiar uses of tense-distinctions. The following are
the auxiliary forms :
(a) The combination of should and would with the infinitive
(should see, would see), when used in the principal clause of
conditional sentences (295), is called the conditional mood.
The conditional mood has the same form as the future pre-
terite tense (278).
(d) The combination of may and its preterite might with
the infinitive (may see, might see) is called the permissive
mood, as in may you be happy ! where it expresses wish, let
the dog loose that he may run about a little ; we let the dog
loose that he might run about a little, where it expresses
purpose.
(c) The combination of the finite forms of the verb to be
with the supine (is to see, was to see, were to see) is called the
compulsive mood. This combination is so called because
it primarily expresses compulsion or obligation, as in what
am I to do ?, what is to be done ? In this sense it can hardly
be considered a mood. But it is used as a pure mood in
conditional sentences, as in if it were to rain, I do not know
what we shall do.
301. We use tenses to express thought-statements in the
hypothetical clauses of conditional sentences, as in if I knew
§304.1 VERBS: MOOD. 109
his address, I would write to him (291); if it were possible I
would do it. In the latter example (as also in if it were to
§ 300) the hypothesis is shown not only by the preterite
tense, but also by the subjunctive inflection, which is really
superfluous. When a thought-statement is expressed by a
tense in this way, we call it a tense-mood. Were in if it
were is a subjunctive tense-mood.
302. As we see, in some conditional sentences all three
ways of expressing thought-statements are used — inflectional
mood (subjunctive), auxiliary mood (conditional), and tense-
mood (preterite). For convenience we will include all these
methods of expression under the term thought-form. We
understand, then, by thought-form any grammatical form
meant to show that a statement is of a thought as opposed
to a fact.
303. As might be expected, we find that in language
the correspondence between fact-statements and thought-
statements on the one hand, and fact-forms and thought-
forms on the other, is not always perfectly logical. That is
to say, in such languages as Latin, we do not always find
fact-statements expressed by the indicative mood arid thought
statements expressed by the subjunctive mood, other languages
showing divergences of their own, so that the details of the
use of the subjunctive in different languages never entirely
agree, in spite of the agreement in general principles.
304. The mere stating of an occurrence as a thought and
not as a fact need not necessarily throw any doubt on the
truth of the statement. Thus when I repeat a statement made
to me by someone else, and repeat it in indirect instead of
direct narration (297), I may do so because I doubt the
truth of the statement, but I may also do so merely because
I do not remember the exact words of the statement, or
because I want to shorten it. Nevertheless in some cases
thought-statement does almost necessarily imply that the
110 INTRODUCTION. [§ 305.
statement is false. Thus in Latin, while a true reason is put
in the indicative because the reason stated is a fact, a reason
which the speaker believes to be false must necessarily be
put in the subjunctive, because to him it is a statement of a
thought, not of a fact. Hence the rule of Latin grammar that
the subjunctive in a causal clause states a rejected reason, as
in the sentence pugiles ingemiscunt, non quod doleant (subj.),
sed quid profundendd voce omne corpus intenditur (indie).,
1 boxers groan, not because they are in pain, but because in
uttering the sound the whole body is braced up.'
305. Hence there is in all languages a tendency to use
the subjunctive — or whatever thought-forms the language
may possess — to imply doubt or denial as opposed to cer-
tainty or affirmation. This is especially noticeable in con-
ditional sentences. Conditional sentences are of two kinds :
(a) those which do not imply anything as to the fulfilment of
the condition, such as if you are right, I am wrong, where
the speaker does not let us know whether he thinks the other
one to be in the right or not; (3) those which imply the
rejection of the hypothesis, such as if you were right, I should
be wrong, which may be expanded into if you were right —
which is not the case — / should be wronp. We distinguish
these two kinds of sentences as sentences of open condition
and of rejected condition. Now although all conditional
sentences express thought-statements as opposed to fact-
statements — for even a sentence of open condition does
nothing more than leave the truth of the statement open
without in any way confirming it — yet as it is just as im-
portant to distinguish between open and rejected conditions
as to distinguish between accepted and rejected reasons,
most languages use the indicative in sentences of open con-
dition— not to imply that the condition will be fulfilled, but
merely to show that it is not rejected.
306. In English the distinctions between thought-form and
§ 3o9 ] VERBS : MOOD. 1 1 1
fact-form are to a great extent levelled. Thus the English
verb makes no distinction between true and false reasons, or
between direct and indirect narration. In fact, the whole
distinction between indicative and subjunctive, as carried out
by such languages as Latin, French, and German, offers great
difficulties to English-speakers who have not been trained in
general principles of grammar and the study of inflected
languages.
307. The general principle in English is not to mark the
distinction between fact-statements and thought-statements
where it is superfluous, that is, where it is clearly shown by
the context. Thus English does not mark the distinction
between true and false reasons by any change of mood
simply because the rejected reason is always unmistakeably
marked by the negative form of the clause (not because . . ,).
For the same reason English finds it unnecessary to mark
the distinction between direct and indirect narration by any
modification of mood. Such a distinction, on the other
hand, as that between open and rejected condition is not
shown by the context, and being a useful one is accordingly
marked by grammatical form.
Imperative Mood.
308. In the imperative mood the relation between subject
and predicate is not that of statement, as in the indicative,
subjunctive, optative, etc., but of hortation, that is, com-
mand, request, etc. The imperative does not state a com-
mand, but addresses it directly to another person. Hence
the statement of a command in the indicative (/ fell you
to go!) or of a wish in the optative or subjunctive (God save
the queen /) are quite distinct from the imperative, which does
not imply statement of any kind.
309. As the imperative can be used only in addressing
someone, the subject of an imperative sentence must always
be in the second person, and so an English verb in the im-
113 INTRODUCTION. [§310.
perative does not require a pronoun to mark distinctions of
person, as it would in a mood of statement, but can form a
sentence by itself, any defining or additional words that may
be required either for clearness or emphasis — including the
personal pronouns — being added separately: come I \ come,
John ! ; come, you boys I The inflection of the imperative is,
then, a purely negative one (77), being merely the common
form of the verb used as a sentence-word in the second
person, no distinction being made between singular and
plural, any more than in the indicative (you see).
310. Although there cannot be any imperative of the first
person singular or third person singular or plural, there can
be an imperative of the first person plural when it is equiva-
lent to / or we -\-you, the hortation being addressed to the
implied you. In English this form of the imperative is ex-
pressed by the auxiliary verb let with the infinitive : let us go !
Voice.
311. By voice we mean different grammatical ways of ex-
pressing the relation between a transitive verb and its subject
and object. The two chief voices are the active (he sazv)
and the passive (he was seen).
312. In English the passive is formed by combining the
finite forms of the auxiliary verb to be with the preterite parti-
ciple of the verb. Thus the active forms I see, I saw, I have
seen, I shall see become in the passive / am seen, I was seen,
I have been seen, 1 shall be seen.
313. In a sentence with a fully expressed transitive verb,
such as the dog killed the rat, although there is only one sub-
ject, namely, dog, yet from a logical point of view the state-
ment about killing applies to the object-word rat as well as
to the subject- word dog ; and it may happen that we wish to
state the killing rather with reference to the rat than the dog.
It may also happen that all we know is that the rat was killed,
without knowing how it was killed. In short, we may wish
§3i6.] VERBS: VOICE. 113
to make the object-word rat into the subject-word of the
sentence. This we do by changing the active form killed 'into
the corresponding passive form was killed : the rat was killed.
The original subject is added, if necessary, by means of the
preposition by : the rat was killed by the dog. In this sen-
tence rat is the inverted object and by the dog is the in-
verted subject. The passive voice is, therefore, a gram-
matical device for (a) bringing the object of a transitive verb
into prominence by making it the subject of the sentence,
and (b) getting rid of the necessity of naming the subject of
a transitive verb.
314. When the active sentence they made him king (267) is
changed into the passive form he was made king, both the
nouns stand in the nominative instead of the accusative re-
lation, one of them (he) being the subject-word, and the other
(king) being in apposition to the subject. Both of them are,
therefore, inverted objects. In such sentences only one of
the object-words can be made into the subject of the passive
sentence.
315. But when such a sentence as the examiner asked me
three questions is made passive, either of the object-words
may be made the subject of the passive sentence : / was
asked three questions by the examiner ; three questions were
asked me by the examiner. It will be observed that in the last
sentence the object-word me is kept unchanged, and in the
preceding sentence, although there is nothing in the form of
questions to tell us what grammatical relation it stands in, yet
we certainly feel it to be parallel with me in the other sen-
tence, that is to say, it remains in the object relation. We
call me and questions in such constructions retained objects,
distinguishing them, if necessary, as retained indirect and
retained direct objects respectively.
For the passive construction / was spoken to, see § 396.
316. Some languages, such as Greek, have a reflexive,
VOL. I. I
114 INTRODUCTION. [§317.
or middle voice, as it is also called, in which the action of the
verb is referred back to the subject in various ways. In the
direct reflexive the implied pronoun stands in the direct
object relation, by which the necessarily transitive verb be-
comes intransitive ; thus in Greek from the transitive loud
* I wash ' is formed the direct middle intransitive louomai (' I
wash myself). In the indirect reflexive a pronoun standing
in the indirect object relation is implied, as in the Greek
prdttomai ' I make for myself/ ' gain/ from the active prdtto
' I make/ In Greek the change from active to middle is often
accompanied by further changes of meaning. Thus the active
peitho ' I persuade ' becomes in the middle peithomai ' I let
myself be persuaded/ ' I obey/ Latin also has deponent
verbs, as they are called, which unite passive inflection with
active meaning, such as loqvor ' I speak/ these verbs being
remains of an older middle voice. In Greek also the inflec-
tions of the middle and passive voices are nearly identical.
We can see from this last example that reflexivity and
passivity often approach in meaning, for I persuade myself x&&
I am persuaded mean much the same thing. It will be observed
that when a transitive verb is made passive, it becomes equiva-
lent to an intransitive verb,//1 is seen, for instance, being equivalent
to it appears. So also, as we have seen, when a transitive verb
is made into a direct reflexive, it becomes intransitive. Lastly,
we have seen that it is often difficult to decide whether a
transitive verb that has become intransitive is to be regarded
as reflexive or not (255). All this shows the close connection
there is between intransitive, reflexive, and passive verbs.
Historically, passive verbs seem generally to have developed
out of middle verbs (compare 255. i).
Miscellaneous Forms.
317. The English verb has special auxiliary forms to ex-
press negation, emphasis and interrogation, as in the
negative / do not see (ai dount sij) compared with the un-
emphatic positive / see, the emphatic positive / do see, and
the interrogative do I see ?
§32i.] VERBALS.
318. These different forms are combined in various ways.
Thus do not I see f (dount ai sij) is negative interrogative.
Verbals.
319. The verbals are intermediate between finite verbs on
the one hand and nouns and adjectives on the other. They
are incapable of expressing predication, and lose several of
the formal distinctions that characterize verbs, namely number,
person, and mood. But they preserve the distinctions of
tense and voice, though often more vaguely than in the finite
verb. They preserve the special functions and meanings of
the verbs from which they are formed, a transitive verb
remaining transitive as a verbal, one that is joined to its
complement by means of a preposition keeping that preposi-
tion when it becomes a verbal, and so on. Thus the verbs
and the corresponding verbals have the same constructions in
such sentences as when I saw him I thought of you and
seeing (gerund) him made me think (infin.) of you.
320. In treating of the verbals apart from the finite verb,
we exclude the verbals used in the periphrastic forms / shall
see, I have seen, etc., where the verbals are, from a logical
point of view, predicates (120). Even from a purely gram-
matical point of view, these periphrastic forms may be regarded
as verb-groups in which the original function of the verbals
is lost sight of. No one, for instance, realizes that seen in
the active form / have seen is a passive participle, or can
understand without historical investigation how it came to be
used in such a construction. We must therefore distinguish
between periphrase-verbals and independent verbals,
the latter only being real noun-words and adjective-words.
It is with these latter that we have now to deal.
INFINITIVE AND SUPINE.
321. The infinitive, as in / can see it, and the supine, as
in / wish to see it, are noun-verbals,
I 2
1 16 INTRODUCTION. [§ 322.
The infinitive is sometimes called the 'infinitive mood'
(293. i).
322. The simple infinitive and supine are primarily active,
but there is also a passival supine, as in this house is to let.
323. There are also periphrastic tenses, both active and
passive, of the supine, such as the perfect active to have seen
and the present passive in this house is to be let or sold.
GERUND.
324. The gerund, as in I remember seeing him, is a noun-
verbal, the present participle, which has the same form, being
an adjective-verbal, as in running water. The gerund also
differs from the present participle in not entering into the
periphrastic forms of the finite verb.
325. The gerund has periphrastic forms to express dis-
tinctions of tense and voice, as in / remember having seen him,
I do not like being asked to make a speech.
326. The gerund is less of a verb than the infinitive inas-
much as it does not join in the conjugation of the finite verb,
and more of a noun, inasmuch as it can be joined to
another noun by means of a preposition, as in / had not the
pleasure of knowing him, which cannot be done with the
infinitive or supine.
327. But in many cases the gerund and the infinitive can
be used almost indifferently ; thus seeing is believing could
also be expressed by to see is to believe.
328. In seeing is believing the two gerunds are nearly
equivalent to abstract nouns such as sight, inspection, belief,
credence, although the two classes of words are kept apart
by difference of grammatical construction : compare seeing a
thing with the sight of a thing ; believing a person with belief in
a person.
329. But when an abstract word in -ing is inflected like a
noun and is associated with adjectives and other noun-modi-
fiers without keeping any verb constructions, it must be
§335-1 VERBALS. 117
regarded as a noun, as in / never saw such doings. But
until a verbal has been isolated from its verb by change of
meaning — especially by taking a concrete meaning, as in
wire netting — it is not entirely on the same footing as
ordinary nouns.
PARTICIPLES.
330. Participles are adjective-verbals.
331. The simple participles are the present active parti-
ciple, such as seeing, running in seeing a crowd, 1 stopped
and / saw him running to catch the train, and the preterite
passive participle, such as called, thrown in a boy called
John, I saw him thrown out of his trap.
332. The present participle is sometimes used passivally,
as in there is an answer waiting, where waiting = ' being waited
for/ The preterite participle, on the other hand, has an
actival meaning in some isolated constructions, as in a learned
man = ' a man who has learnt much/
333. There are periphrastic participles, such as the per-
fect active participle having seen in having seen all that was
to be seen at Rome, we went on to Naples, and the present
passive participle being seen in not being seen by any one, he
escaped.
334. Participles retain the meanings and constructions of
the verbs they are formed from when they are equivalent to
clauses, as in the examples just given, where, for instance,
having seen is equivalent to when we had seen.
335. On the other hand, in such combinations as running
wafer, a charming view, a ruined man, an ill-built house the
participles are pure adjectives, being put before nouns like
ordinary adjectives, and several of them being capable of
comparison (more, most charming), while they are all isolated
from their verbs in meaning — except perhaps in the first in-
stance— and in the case of ill-built in construction also, for there
is no verb *lo ill-build. But many passive participles used as
Il8 INTRODUCTION. [§336.
adjectives retain traces of their verb origin in preferring
much to very as a modifier ; thus much pleased sounds better
than very pleased, just as we say it pleased me much.
Adverbs.
336. There are two main classes of adverbs corresponding
to the distinction between adjective-pronouns and ordinary
or ' special ' adjectives (194). General adverbs, such as
here, there, where, now, then, soon, quite, very, not, resem-
ble adjective-pronouns in function and meaning. Thus
the general adverbs here, there, modify the verb stand in
stand here ! stand there ! in the same way as the adjective-
pronouns (' general adjectives ') this and that modify the
noun position in take this position !, take that position !, all four
words having the same demonstrative meaning. The adverbs
now and then have a similar meaning, only applied to time
instead of place ; quite and very express general qualifications
of quantity ; and not expresses the most abstract and general
of all qualifications, namely negation.
337. Most general adverbs are at the same time primary
adverbs, showing no connection with the other parts of
speech, except the other particles — prepositions and con-
junctions. Thus the adverbs in and up in come in I come up I
are used also as prepositions, as in to stay in the house, he
came up the road, but they are not related to ordinary nouns,
adjectives, or verbs.
338. Special adverbs, on the other hand, show their
likeness to adjectives as opposed to adjective-pronouns by
the fact that most of them are formed directly from adjectives
by adding -ly\ thus from the adjectives bright, quick are
formed the special adverbs brightly, quickly. These adverbs
are, therefore, at the same time secondary adverbs — formed
from other parts of speech. Some adverbs are formed from
adjectives by direct conversion, such as full in full many =
§342.] ADVERBS. 119
' very many,' hard in work hard. Other secondary ad-
verbs are formed from nouns, and occasionally from verbs,
such as home in go home, bang in go bang, formed from home,
to bang.
339. Adverb-groups — that is, word-groups having the
grammatical function of adverbs — are formed in various
ways, sometimes by joining a preposition to a noun or an
adjective used as a noun, as in today, ups fairs, in short',
sometimes by other combinations, into which adverts them-
selves often enter, such as nevertheless, however. Such
combinations as the above may be regarded as compound
adverbs because of their isolation of meaning, although
some of them are written as two words. But it is difficult
to draw the line between adverb-groups and compound
adverbs.
340. It will be seen that some secondary adverbs are
more general in their meaning than others, although not so
general as the primary adverbs. The adverb full has,
however, the same general meaning as very, although it is
much more restricted in its application. It must be ob-
served that very itself was once a secondary adverb formed
by conversion from the adjective very ' true ' — which is still
preserved in the superlative veriest — so that it had originally
the same meaning as the derived adverb verily. But the
adverb very has diverged so much in meaning from its
adjective that the connection between them is no longer
felt.
FORM.
341. The only adverbs that can be recognized by their
form are the special adverbs in -ly, such as brightly, quickly ;
but it must be borne in mind that this test is not de-
cisive, for there are several adjectives in -ly, such as goodly,
manly.
342. Most primary adverbs are indeclinable. But secon-
dary adverbs formed from adjectives are compared like
120 INTRODUCTION. [§343-
adjectives : quick, quicker, quickest, as in come quick (or
quickly), we will see who is done quickest, usefully, more
usefully, most usefully, as in more usefully employed. A few
primary adverbs are also capable of comparison : soon,
sooner, soonest.
MEANING.
343. Adverbs are classed according to their meaning
under the main heads of place, time, order, quantity, manner,
cause, and assertion. Some adverbs have a variety of
meanings, which necessitates putting the same adverb into
several classes : —
344. (a) Adverbs of place, such as here, there, where,
away, up, down, in, out, inside, outside, above, below, together.
Many of these are used also as prepositions, such as up,
down, in, inside, outside, above, below. Most of the adverbs
of place express motion as well as rest, as in he came here,
he went away, he went in, they flocked together compared with
he stood there, he is away on a holiday, he is in, they stood
together. In the literary language there is a group of adverbs
expressing motion to, namely hither, thither, whither, with a
corresponding group expressing motion from — hence, thence,
whence, which in the ordinary language are expressed \yyfrom
here, etc. When these adverbs are used, the corresponding
here, there, where are restricted to the meaning of rest.
There is often used as a pure form-word without any mean-
ing of its own. When used in this way it loses its stress and is
weakened to 0$3r), which we call ' the weak there ' as distin-
guished from 'the strong there ' = (fits). Thus in the sentence
there is no one there (£a z nou w^n ^ea), the first there is weak
and a mere form- word, while the second there is strong and
keeps its full meaning as an adverb of place.
345. (l>) Adverbs of time admit various other sub-
divisions : now, today, at once, immediately are adverbs of
present time, then, yesterday, lately, formerly, once, in /
§ 347-1 ADVERBS. 121
thought so once, are adverbs of past time, afterwards, to-
morrow, soon, presently, are adverbs of future time. Some ad-
verbs of time, such as henceforth, combine present and future
time, = now + in the future. Such adverbs as at once, im-
mediately might also be regarded as adverbs of immediate
futurity, as compared with presently, which implies delay.
Ever, never, always, continuously are adverbs of continuous
time or duration, while often, frequently, occasionally, seldom,
rarely, once, again, twice, daily, yearly, annually, periodically
are adverbs of discrete time or repetition, the distinction
between continuous and discrete time being analogous to
that between continuous and discrete quantity (232).
It must be observed that some adverbs which would seem to
express continuous time, such as continually, incessantly, per-
petually, are not really equivalent to ' continuously,' but express
very frequent repetition : he comes here continually — every
other day ; it rains incessantly — almost 'without ceasing.
346. (c) Place and time both fall under the head of order.
Hence the analogy in meaning between such place-adverbs
as here, there, where and the time-adverbs now, then, when.
Hence also the use of some adverbs of place in a temporal
meaning, as in here he stopped short in his speech, where here
means ' at this point of time/ all these events came together
meaning that they happened at the same time.
347. (d) Adverbs of quantity. Of adverbs of quantity,
degree, measure, some express definite measure, such as
equally, less, least, more, most, as in equally happy, less happy,
most happy, some indefinite measure, such as little, a little,
slightly, much, very, greatly, excessively, as in little the worse,
a little belter, much pleased, very glad. Rather in I would
rather is an adverb of definite, in rather good of indefinite
measure. Others express causal quantity, that is, quantity
in its relation to purpose or result, such as enough, sufficiently,
loo, loo much, loo little. Others, again, express quantity in its
relation to unity (part and whole), such as wholly, quite,
1 a 2 INTROD UC TION. [§ 348.
completely, perfectly, exactly, almost, nearly, hardly, scarcely.
To these are allied adverbs of addition, such as also,
besides, too (which is also used to express excess), and
exclusion, such as only, merely. So and as in not so good
as, than in better than, the in the more the merrier are
adverbs of comparison, the expressing double comparison
or proportion. Most adverbs of quantity express con-
tinuous quantity. Of those that express discrete quantity,
such as twice in twice as many, some are used also as
adverbs of time.
It will be observed that many adverbs of time are also
adjective-pronouns of quantity, such as less, least, more, most,
enough.
348. (e) Adverbs of manner, such as how, thus, so, as,
like. So and as are adverbs of manner in it is done so, do as
you are told! like is an adverb of manner in sing like a bird.
These are general adverbs of manner. There is also an
unlimited number of special adverbs of manner, such as
well and ill in well done, ill done, most of them formed from
adjectives by adding -ly, such as quickly, wisely, knowingly,
avowedly. Many of these are used as adverbs of quantity,
being practically equivalent to very, as in remarkably clever,
horribly dull, awfully tired, piercingly cold.
349. (f) Adverbs of cause, such as therefore, where-
fore, why, because, accordingly. Adverbs which belong to the
other classes are also used to express cause, such as the
place-adverbs hence, whence, the time-adverb then, as in will
you do it then /, and the adverb of manner so, which in the
spoken language takes the place of therefore, as in so you will
not do it ?
350. (g) Adverbs of assertion express affirmation,
such as_>w, yea; denial or negation, such as no, nay, not-,
asseveration, including certainty, doubt, etc., such as surely,
certainly, assuredly, truly, undoubtedly, indeed, perhaps, possibly.
Of these yes, yea, no, nay are sentence-adverbs (368).
§3570 ADVERBS.
351. Adverbs are also used metaphorically to express a
variety of occasional meanings. Thus together in they con-
spired together expresses the idea of co-operation, derived
metaphorically from the idea of proximity in place.
352. General adverbs also fall under other classes similar
to those under which pronouns fall. Thus we have
definite adverbs, such as here, there (of place), now, then (of
time), so, thus (of manner), corresponding to the definite pro-
nouns this, that ', here being equivalent to in this place, now to
at this time, then to at that time, thus to in this way, so to in
that way.
353. Indefinite adverbs are formed by combining the in-
definite pronouns any and some with interrogative adverbs,
and by combining interrogative pronouns with the adverbs
ever and -soever : anywhere, somewhere, wherever, wheresoever,
whenever, whensoever, anyhow, somehow, however, howsoever.
354. Negative adverbs are formed, like negative pro-
nouns, by prefixing n- and no- : n-ever, nowhere, nohow. It
will be observed that no is compounded with the interrogative
form of the adverbs.
355. Most of the interrogative adverbs begin with wh,
like the interrogative pronouns : where (of place), when (of
time), why (of cause) ; how (of manner).
FUNCTION.
356. General adverbs, like pronouns, admit of a division
into independent and dependent. An independent adverb,
such as very in he is very tall, simply modifies some word (or
sentence), while a dependent adverb not only modifies some
word, but at the same time makes us expect something more
to complete the -sense. Thus the dependent adverb as in
he is as tall makes us expect as / (am) or some such comple-
tion of the sense. Correlative adverbs are a special class
of dependent adverbs.
357. All adverbs fall under the two heads of word-modi-
124 INTRODUCTION. [§35$.
fying and sentence-modifying, although it is often difficult
to distinguish between the two classes.
All special adverbs are independent word-modifiers.
Independent Adverbs.
Word-Modifying.
358. The grammatical function of independent word-
modifying adverbs is to modify adjectives, adverbs, verbs,
and occasionally nouns. Their most important function is
in connection with verbs, adverbs standing in the same relation
to verbs as adjectives do to nouns, as we see by comparing
he walks quickly with he is a quick walker, he has a quick step*
The great majority of adverbs indeed — especially secondary
adverbs in -ly — are used only in connection with verbs.
359. The adverbs which modify adjectives and adverbs
are all general adverbs of degree (quantity), as in quite right,
very good, most beautiful^ most beautifully, fearfully ugly.
Most of these adverbs cannot be used with verbs. These
adverbs can modify a group-adverb, as in he is quite in the
wrong, I am half through my work, where the adverbs quite,
half do not modify the prepositions in and through, but modify
the whole group in each case.
360. Adverbs follow their verbs, as in he came quickly, he
came home yesterday, and precede adjectives and adverbs, as
in very quick, quickly : enough, however, follows, as in good
enough, not quickly enough.
361. When an adverb modifies a noun, the noun is gene-
rally felt to be equivalent to an adjective or verb, as in he is
quite a gentleman, he is quite the .genileman=l he is a complete
or perfect gentleman,' he .is fully master of the subject, com-
pared with he is quite gentlemanly, he has fully mastered the
subject.
362. A noun-modifying adverb evidently approaches very
near in function to an adjective. In such a construction as
§365-] ADVERBS. 125
he is quite a gentleman we feel that quite is not an adjective,
because, if it were, it would come after, instead of before the
article a, as in he is a perfect gentleman. But in such con-
structions as you are the very man I want, he is an only son,
we must regard very and only as adjectives, only being of
course an adverb in such a construction as he is only a child.
Hence we see that although the adverb well is used as an
adjective and felt to be such in he is quite well, the conversion
is not complete, for we cannot talk of * a well man.
363. In such constructions as the house here, the man there,
the adverb follows its noun instead of preceding it, because
these combinations are felt to be contractions of such sen-
tences as the house is here, the man stands there^ etc.
Sentence- Modify ing.
364. As assertion, denial, etc., consist in stating a certain
relation between the subject and predicate of a sentence, it
follows that adverbs of assertion (350) cannot modify either
subject or predicate exclusively, but modify the relation be-
tween them, that is, modify the general meaning of the sen-
tence. Thus certainly in / certainly think so does not modify
think alone, as if the sentence were equivalent to / think with
certainty or / think correctly, but the whole sentence is equiva-
lent to it is certain that I think so. That such is the meaning
of the adverb is confirmed by the form of the sentence, for if
certainly modified think only, it would follow it, as the adverb
so does in / think so. Nor can it modify /, because adverbs
precede the noun-words they modify. Lastly, the freedom
with which certainly can be moved about in the sentence
seems to show that it does not belong specially to any one
word in it : certainly I think so, I certainly think so, I think so
certainly.
365. In the same way the adverb not in / do not think so is
a sentence-modifier serving to deny or negative the connection
between the subject / and the predicate think so. Here also
126 INTRODUCTION. [§ 366.
the grammatical form confirms the grammatical analysis, for
not is joined on to the unmeaning form-word do, which serves
only as a prop for the negative particle, so that by attaching
not to the one unmeaning word in the sentence, we seem, as
it were, to distribute the negation over the whole sentence.
366. But in such a sentence as he is not a fool, the not
might formally be associated with the noun as well as with
the verb, being in a position which would enable it to modify
either. In fact such sentences have in the spoken language
two forms (hij iznt 9 fuwl) and (hijz not 9 fuwl). In the
former the negation being attached specially to an unmeaning
form-word must necessarily logically modify the whole sen-
tence, just as in / do not think so (ai dount f>irjk sou), so that
the sentence is equivalent to ' I deny that he is a fool.' In
the other form of the sentence the not is detached from the
verb, and is thus at liberty to modify the following noun, so
that the sentence is felt to be equivalent to he is no fool,
where there can be no doubt that the negative adjective-
pronoun no modifies the noun, so that (hijz not 9 fuwl) is
almost equivalent to ' I assert that he is the opposite of a
fool.' Again, in such a sentence as he gave his money not
from benevolence but from ostentation, not cannot be regarded
as a sentence-modifier, for if so, the sentence would imply
' he does not give money ' while it means the exact opposite.
We see from these examples not only that the same adverb
may be sometimes a sentence-modifier, sometimes an ordinary
word-modifier, but that there is often great difficulty in distin-
guishing between word-modification and sentence-modification
generally. This is especially the case when a verb is the word
that seems to be modified. If the verb has no meaning of its
own, it cannot of course be logically— though it may be gram-
matically— modified by the adverb. But if the verb has a
distinct meaning of its own, its importance in the sentence
makes any modification of it almost logically equivalent to
modification of the whole sentence. Thus there can be no
doubt that an adverb of motion such as home in its regular
§ 369.] ADVERBS. 127
position after a verb of motion such as go must be regarded as
specially modifying that verb, and yet in such a sentence as
John came home yesterday ', home practically modifies not came
only, but the whole sentence, for it is not any one at any time
that came home, but it is John that came home, and he came
home yesterday.
In grammar we are, of course, bound to consider such questions
as much as possible from a purely grammatical point of view,
and from the grammatical point of view there can be no doubt
that home in John came home modifies came, and came only.
367. Some sentence-modifying adverbs single out one
particular word, although they still modify the sentence as a
whole, even and only in even Homer sometimes nods, where
even Homer— Homer himself , only a fool would do that,
are examples of such 'word -sentence -modify ing/ word-
emphasizing adverbs. In such a sentence as he is only a
common soldier, only is a word-modifying adverb.
Sentence- A dverls.
368. The answer to the question is he here ? can be either
the affirmative yes or the negative no. It is evident that yes
and no are sentence-modifying adverbs and at the same time
sentence- words like come !, John !, alas !. no in the above
example is equivalent to he is not here ; it is, therefore, at the
same time the absolute form corresponding to the conjoint
not. There is no conjoint adverb corresponding to yes,
because the ordinary form of the sentence (he is here) is
taken to imply affirmation. The nearest approach to such a
conjoint affirmative adverb is the emphatic assertive certainly
(he is certainly here}, which, like many other adverbs, can
also be used absolutely — though without any change of
form — as in the answer to the question will you come too /
Dependent Adverbs.
369. Dependent adverbs are of two kinds, word-intro-
ducing and sentence-introducing. A sentence containing
128 INTRODUCTION. [§ 37°.
a word-introducing adverb can be supplemented by a word or
word-group as well as a sentence, as in he is taller thanyou,
he is taller than you are ; while a sentence- introducing adverb
requires a full sentence, as in / know how it is done.
CORRELATIVE ADVERBS.
370. These are a special class of word-introducing de-
pendent adverbs. By correlation we understand the use of
two or more form-words of similar meaning and function
belonging to the same part of speech, and standing to one
another in a relation of mutual dependence, as . . as in
he is nearly as tall as you (are), so . . as in he is not so fall
as you (are), the . . the in the more the merrier, the more you
beat them the better they be are examples of correlation-pairs.
The distinction between as tall as you and as tall as you are
is, of course, parallel to that between than you and than you
are (369). It will be observed that although correlation-
pairs often consist in the repetition of the same word, they
may be made up of two different words, provided these
words are parallel in function and meaning. In correlation-
pairs -the second correlative refers back to the first something
in the same way as a relative refers back .o its antecedent,
he is as tall as you being equivalent to * he is tall in the
degree in which you are tall/ Correlation consists therefore
in mutual logical dependence and parallelism of the members
of the correlation-pair.
371. Adverbs of more independent meaning may also
form correlation-pairs, such as partly . . partly, sometimes . .
sometimes, now . . now, as in he did it partly from benevolence,
partly from ostentation ; sometimes grave, sometimes gay, (now
grave, now gay).
372. The members of a correlation-pair sometimes be-
come fixed so as to form correlation-groups or cor-
relation compounds, such as to and fro; up and down ; here,
there, and everywhere.
§373-] ADVERBS. 129
No pair of related words can be regarded as a correlation-
pair unless in addition to the characteristics of mutual logical
dependence it shows grammatical parallelism. Thus an ante-
cedent noun and its relative pronoun (men . . who) cannot be
regarded as correlative, because they belong to different parts
of speech, the pronoun being also markedly subordinated to the
noun; and even when the antecedent is a personal pronoun
(I who . ,) we do not feel the two to be grammatically parallel
and on a footing of equality. But if we could expand what
I say I mean into *what I say, that I mean we might call what . .
that in such a construction correlatives.
More . . than in he is more industrious than his brother
cannot be regarded as a correlation-pair for another reason,
namely, that the analogy of he is stronger than his brother
shows that it is simpler to regard than as joined on to the
group more-industrious, more itself being too closely connected
with its adjective to be able to enter into a correlation-pair by
itself. So . . that in / was so tired that I could not go any
further cannot be regarded as a correlation-pair for the same
reason.
Relative and Conjunctive Adverbs.
373. Dependent sentence-introducing . adverbs are sub-
divided into relative and conjunctive adverbs, corre-
sponding to relative and conjunctive pronouns. Thus the
place-adverb there in we stopped there a week is an inde-
pendent adverb corresponding to the independent pronoun
that in we stopped in -that place. In we went .on to Rome,
where we stopped a week, where is a relative (progressive)
adverb corresponding to the relative pronoun which in we
went on to Rome, in which place we stopped a week. In /
know where he is, where is a conjunctive adverb answering to the
conjunctive pronouns who or what'm I know who he is} I know
in what place he is. All the interrogative adverbs are used
relatively and conjunctively as well. Thus why is relative in the
reason why, how is conjunctive in I know .how it is done. In
/ asked how it was done, how is both a conjunctive and an
indirect interrogation adverb, just as the pronoun what is both
conjunctive and indirectly interrogative in I asked what it was,
VOL. i. K
130 INTRODUCTION. [§374.
374. The conjunctive adverb of affirmation that, as in
/ know that it is true, that it is true is a fact, and the con-
junctive adverbs of doubt if and whether, as in I wonder if it
is trut, I do not know whether it is true or not, have no
corresponding interrogative adverb, because such an adverb
would be superfluous in such a sentence as is it true?
where the form of the sentence by itself shows that it is
interrogative.
Compare the analogous want of a conjoint adverb of affirma-
tion (368).
The conjunctive that is often dropped in Spoken English, as
in / know it is true.
375. In the cases we have hitherto been considering,
the dependent adverb, where it introduces a word,
a word-group, or a sentence, does so in order to
modify some one word — it is a word-modifying, not a
sentence-modifying adverb ; but in some cases definite
formal criteria fail us. In clauses which contain relative
pronouns it is easy to distinguish between reference to
a single word (the man . . who] and reference to a whole
sentence (/ said nothing, which . . ), because the ante-
cedent to a relative pronoun has definite formal charac-
teristics by which we can recognize it to some extent
independently of its meaning; but when we have to deal
with relative and other connective adverbs, there are often
no formal criteria by which we can tell whether they modify
single words or whole sentences. In such a sentence as
/ know when he came we do not hesitate to regard when he
came as associated specially with the verb know. In he came
to the house when I was out, he came while I was out we
are also inclined to regard when I was out, while I was out
as adjuncts to came. But in he came yesterday because he knew
I was out we are inclined to regard because he knew I was
out as an adjunct to the whole sentence he came yesterday, or,
in other words, as connecting the two sentences together as
§ 377.] ADVERBS. 131
wholes, instead of merely joining the second clause to a
single word in the first. If so, we must regard because as a
conjunction, not an adverb. But he came while I was out
may imply that he came because I was out, so that we
should have to regard while as an adverb in one shade of
meaning and a conjunction in the other.
This is why it is most practical to class all sentence-connect-
ing adverbs as conjunctions without stopping to enquire into
the exact way in which the connection is effected (381).
Connection between Adverbs and other Parts of Speech.
Connection between Adverbs and Adjectives.
376. An adjective after a link-verb often approaches in
meaning to an adverb, especially when the link-verb has
some independent meaning, as in he looks very angry, he
stood firm, compared with he stared at him angrily, to stand
firmly on his feet. In to stare angrily, stare has so full and
independent a meaning that its adjunct angrily is felt to be a
pure adverb in meaning as well as form ; but looks in he looks
angry, although it has enough independent meaning to take
an adjunct-word of its own, is, on the other hand, almost
equivalent to the pure link-verb is, so that angry from this
point of view is felt to be logically as well as grammatically
an adjective. In some cases adjectives are used as complete
adverbs without any change of form, as in to drink deep, to
work hard, especially when compared, as in he works harder
than evert / know where it can be done cheapest.
Connection between Adverbs and Pronouns.
377. We have already seen that general adverbs resemble
pronouns (336). In some cases the similarity of adverbs to
pronouns in grammatical function is so great that we can
hardly tell which part of speech the word belongs to. In
such combinations as I think so, I told you so, the adverb so
K 2
132 INTRODUCTION. [§ 378.
does not merely modify its verb like an adverb — as if / think
so meant ' I think in that way ' — but answers the question
' think what ? ', so that it is logically equivalent to a pronoun
in the direct object relation, and we might change the above
sentences into / think that, I told you that without any per-
ceptible change of meaning. In he likes it, and so do I; he
is fond of it, and so am /, so is felt to be equivalent partly to
a pronoun of reference— ' he likes it, and that (i.e. liking)
do I '—partly to ' also/
378. In who else? , what else? the adverb else has no
longer the sense of ' otherwise,' but is almost felt to be equi-
valent to the pronoun another, although it is most convenient
to regard who else, etc. as group-compounds like whoever,
whosoever. The adverb yonder in look yonder, the man yonder
(compare the man there, § 363) has been converted into a
pure pronoun in yonder man.
379. In Old English and Modern German such com-
binations as in it, in what, in which, are made into here-in,
there-in, where-in ; such a combination as the house in which
he lives being expressed by the house wherein he lives, the
adverbs here, there, where being substituted for the neuter
pronouns it (this, that], what, which. The reason of this is
that lifeless objects are generally stationary, and hence often
come to be looked at from a purely local point of view.
Hence instead of saying * he is in it/ meaning ' he is in the
house ' or ' he is in that (this) room/ we may say he is in there
or he is in here, as the case may be; and instead of
saying the book is on it, meaning ' on the shelf/ we say it is up
there. The difference between this Modern English and the
Old English usage is that in the latter they said here in =
'here inside/ instead of in here, and then ran the two
adverbs together so as to form a single word.
Connection between A dverbs and Prepositions.
380. In such a sentence zsjohn is stronger than Thomas,
§ 382.] ADVERBS. 133
the adverb than has an evident similarity to a preposition : it
makes the noun Thomas into an adjunct to stronger, just as
the preposition beyond might do in such a sentence as *John
is strong beyond Tho?nas. In fact than governs an objective
case like a preposition in such a construction as
Beelzebub , than whom,
Satan except, none higher sat. (MILTON.)
Than and as may also be regarded as case-governing adverbs
in such constructions as he is taller than me, he is as strong as
me, although it is simpler to regard the pronouns here as
absolute pronouns, as in it is me.
Connection betiveen Adverbs and Conjunctions.
381. When an adverb introduces a sentence as a modifier,
not of a word in the preceding sentence, but of the whole
sentence, the adverb becomes indistinguishable from a con-
junction (375) ; and as it is often difficult to distinguish be-
tween word-modification and sentence-modification (366. i),
it is for ordinary grammatical purposes most convenient to
regard all sentence -introducing adverbs as conjunctions
(408). Thus, although it is not strictly correct to call the
sentence-introducing like in do like I do I a conjunction as
opposed to the ' adverb ' like in she sings like a bird, yet the
rule ' like is an adverb, not a conjunction in standard English/
or ' it is vulgar to use like as a conjunction/ cannot be ex-
pressed so shortly and conveniently if we refuse to call the
sentence-connecting like a conjunction.
382. Word-connecting adverbs such as than and the
correlative as ... as bear an equally close resemblance to
word-connecting conjunctions such as and (403). But as
sentence-connecting is regarded as the most characteristic
function of conjunctions, it is not usual to extend the
designation ' conjunction' to such adverbs.
134 INTRODUCTION. [§383.
Prepositions.
FORM.
383. Prepositions, like adverbs, are of two kinds, primary
and secondary. Primary prepositions, such as of, in, on,
to, till, for, with, by, are connected only with the two other
classes of particles — adverbs and conjunctions. Most pre-
positions are used also as adverbs ; thus by is a prepositioirin
he passed by the house, an adverb in he passed by. A few are
used also as conjunctions (or conjunctional adverbs), such as
till in wait till he comes, for in the sense of ' because.'
Some prepositions are not used as adverbs, such as of,
to, for.
Originally, however, 0^~was the adverb corresponding to of,
and too was the adverb corresponding to to. But now off and
too have diverged so much from the corresponding prepositions
that there is no longer any association between them.
384. Secondary prepositions are formed from the de-
clinable parts of speech. Thus across is formed from the
noun cross ; round in walk round the garden, along are formed
from the adjectives round, long ; and excepting, except, during,
past in half past one, are formed from the verbs except, dure
= endure, pass.
385. There are also compound prepositions, some
primary, formed from other prepositions and from adverbs,
such as into, upon, throughout, and some secondary, formed
— partly at least — from declinable words, such as notwith-
standing.
386. There is also an important class of group -preposi-
tions, such as by means of, for the sake of, with regard to,
consisting of a noun governed by a preceding preposition
and followed by another preposition, which grammatically
governs the following noun, although logically the noun is
governed by the whole group. Thus in / will do it for ihe
§ 387.] PREPOSITIONS. 135
sake of peace, the noun peace is governed grammatically by of,
but logically by the group for-the-sake-of.
The group-preposition because of contains only one distinct
independent preposition, but the be- is really a weakening of the
preposition by.
387. Prepositions are put before noun-words. They
govern personal pronouns in the objective case : to me, of
him. In more highly inflected languages, prepositions
generally govern a variety of cases, the same preposition
often governing several cases with corresponding differ-
ences of meaning. Thus in Latin and German such a
preposition as in governs the accusative case when asso-
ciated with verbs of motion or a noun-word expressing
the end or goal of the motion expressed by the verb;
while it governs some case equivalent to the locative (in
Latin the ablative, in German the dative) when rest is
expressed, the same distinction being made with on and
other prepositions. Through want of the necessary inflec-
tions English has lost this distinction, so that a new com-
pound preposition into has been formed to denote motion,
as in he came into the house — where Latin would have in the
house with house the accusative — compared with he is in the
house, where Latin would have the ablative. But we still
use the adverb in to express motion, as in he came in. A
preposition need not be prefixed immediately to its noun,
but may be separated from it by intervening adjuncts to the
noun, as in on a very high hill. In a concord-language the
declinable adjuncts a and high would of course be put in
the same case as hill We may call the combination of
a preposition with the words it governs a preposition-
group.
In some languages prepositions follow, instead of preceding
the noun-words they govern, either generally or only in special
cases. Even in English therein is equivalent to in theie, in it
t^6 INTRODUCTION. [§ 388.
(379), although in in therein is not a true preposition but an
adverb.
388. Prepositions sometimes govern adjectives, especially
in adverbial groups such as in short, after all They also
govern adverbs, as in till now, since then, from here. In such
constructions the adjectives and adverbs must be regarded
as converted nouns, being also logically equivalent to nouns :
in short — * in a short statement/ * in few words ' ; till now =
' till the present lime/
FUNCTION.
389. The grammatical function of a preposition is to
make the noun-word it governs into an adjunct- word. A
preposition-group may serve as adjunct to —
(a) A noun-word, as in a man of honour, a widow ivith
three children, freedom from care.
(6) An adjective, as in black in the face, free from care,
good for nothing.
(c) A verb, as in climb up a tree, I thought of it, he did it
with the greatest ease.
(d] A sentence, as in / stopped at home because of the
rain, he caught cold through getting wet.
It will be observed that in such constructions the adjunct-
group is generally a sentence-equivalent, rain, for instance,
being a subject-predicate word (257), and through getting wet
being equivalent to the clause because he got wet. Even if
the preposition-group is made up with a concrete noun-word,
as in I caught cold through you or it was all through you that
I caught cold, we can mentally expand the preposition-group
into a phrase such as ' through your persuading me to go
out in the rain.' Prepositions in such constructions are,
therefore, logically equivalent to conjunctions, and we can
make the first sentence into I stopped at home because it rained —
with the conjunction because instead of the group-preposition
§394-1 PREPOSITIONS. 137
because of- — without any change of meaning. Conversely, we
can express we saw the lightning before we heard the thunder •,
where before is a conjunction, in the form of we saw the
lightning before hearing the thunder -, where before is a pre-
position.
In such a sentence as after the old king's death his son came
to the throne the way of expression makes it necessary to put
the preposition-group first, which makes the preposition resem-
ble a conjunction still more. The normal order may be restored
by a slight change : the son came to the throne after the old
king's death.
390. A preposition-group qualifying a noun is often equi-
valent to an adjective ; thus of honour in man of honour is
equivalent to honourable ; and a man with a red nose means
the same as a red-nosed man.
391. As adjectives and verbs are generally qualified by
adverbs, a preposition-group qualifying an adjective or verb
is generally equivalent to an adverb. Thus blind of one eye
means much the same as partially blind, and with ease means
exactly the same as easily.
392. Adding a preposition to a noun-word has the same
function as inflection. Thus the preposition-group of John
means exactly the same as the genitive John's, and with ease
is equivalent to the instrumental case of those languages
which have that inflection.
393. Prepositions serve also to express a variety of more
general grammatical relations. Thus in the town of Birming-
ham the c/" denotes apposition, the group being equivalent to
Birmingham the town. In the rat was killed by the dog, the
by is the sign of the inverted subject, the group by-the-dog
being logically equivalent to a nominative case.
394. Although a preposition is grammatically associated
with the noun-word it governs, it is in meaning associated
quite as closely with the word modified by the preposition-
group — in some cases even more so, especially when the
138 INTRODUCTION. C§ 395-
head- word is a verb. Thus in such sentences as / saiv him
pass by the window and run across the road and tell him io
come here, the prepositions are so closely associated with the
preceding verbs that we can omit the nouns that follow them
without altering the meaning, except that .we make it vaguer:
/ saw him pass byy run across and tell him to come here. So
we may regard pass-by and run-across in such constructions
as group-verbs, logically equivalent to such simple transitive
verbs as pass and cross in he passed the house, he crossed the
road, just as look-at, think-of, attend-to are logically equivalent
to survey, consider, etc.
395. In English such group -verbs can be put in the
passive voice in imitation of the transitive verbs which they
resemble in meaning, as in it has been thought of, he shall be
attended to.
396. In such group-verbs the preposition follows the verb
so closely that it is often completely detached from the
noun-word it originally governed. When a preposition is
used in this way we call it a detached preposition. Detached
prepositions are liable to be disassociated from their noun-
words not only in position, but also in grammatical construc-
tion, as in he was thought of, where the detached preposition
is no longer able to govern the pronoun in the objective case
because the passive construction necessitates putting the pro-
noun in the nominative. Prepositions are also detached
in some constructions in connection with interrogative and
dependent pronouns and adverbs, as in who are you speaking
of?, I do not know what he is thinking of, where is he going to ?,
I wonder where he came from ; such constructions as of whom
are you speaking ? being confined to the literary language. It
will be observed that here too the detached preposition loses the
power of governing the pronoun in the objective case, the who
in who are you speaking of? being felt to be the logical nomi-
native in the sentence. In such sentences as you are the very
man wtwere speaking of, that is the place he came from, which
§ 398.] PREPOSITIONS. 139
in the literary language would become you are the very man
of whom we were speaking, that is the place from which he came
(whence he came), the dependent pronoun or adverb is omitted,
so that the detached preposition is grammatically isolated or
absolute, being referred back logically to who and place — the
logical subjects of the independent clause. Although de-
tached prepositions approach very near to adverbs, yet they
cannot be regarded as full adverbs for the simple reason that
those prepositions which are otherwise never used as adverbs,
such as of, can be detached with perfect freedom.
MEANING.
397. The meanings expressed by prepositions are very
numerous, but they may be classed under the three heads of
(a) space, including place, rest, and motion, (£) time, and
(c) other abstract relations, such as quantity, manner, cause,
deprivation.
398. All three* classes of meanings are often expressed by
the same preposition. Each preposition generally has some
one fundamental meaning which runs through one or more
of the above classes. Thus to and from as prepositions of
space have exactly opposite meanings, as in the road from
London to York, he went from London to York. As the space
preposition from expresses the beginning of a sequence or
direction and the starting-point of motion, so also as a pre-
position of time it expresses the beginning of a period-^/hw*
that time — and as an abstract preposition it expresses the
beginning of change, while to in accordance with its primary
meaning expresses the end or result of a change, as in to
change from black to red, from also expressing metaphori-
cally the various causal relations of origin, inference, etc., as in
to result from, to infer from.
140 INTRODUCTION. [§ 399.
Conjunctions.
FORM.
399. Of the primary conjunctions the most unmistakeable
are those words which are used as conjunctions, and as con-
junctions only, such as and and or. Some English conjunc-
tions are also prepositions, such as for, since. As the pre-
positional use of these words is the original one, they may be
regarded as secondary conjunctions. The connection be-
tween conjunctions and adverbs has been already treated
of (381).
400. Some conjunctions are simple, such as and and or,
some compound, such as although. There are also group-
conjunctions, such as in order that, as soon as, as if, most
of which contain either a simple conjunction, such as z/J or
one or more adverbs.
401. Conjunctions are often used correlatively (370).
Both . . and, though . . yet are examples of correlative
conjunction-pairs.
402. Conjunctions generally precede the word or sentence
they modify.
FUNCTION.
403. The grammatical function of conjunctions is to con-
nect words with words and sentences with sentences. Con-
junctions are therefore of two kinds, word-connecting and
sentence- connecting. A sentence introduced by a con-
junction (or any particle equivalent to a conjunction) is called
a prepared sentence, sentences which are not introduced
in this way being called unprepared (458). The same
conjunction is often used both as a word-connecter and as a
sentence-connecter. Thus and is a word-connecter in two
and three make five, and a sentence-connecter in he went one
way and I went another (way]. By ' connect ' we mean the
statement of any kind of relation ; hence such a conjunction
§ 405.] CONJUNCTIONS. 141
as or in answer yes or no/, which, in one sense, separates
instead of joining together the two words it comes between,
is as much a conjunction as and itself.
404. Conjunctions are purely connective words : they
connect without governing; and this is what distinguishes
word-connecting conjunctions from prepositions. These two
classes of words resemble each other closely, as we see by
comparing John and I went there with John went there with
me. But in John with me, the preposition connects the two
noun-words only indirectly, by combining with the pronoun to
form an adjunct-group which modifies John, the preposition
at the same time governing the pronoun in the objective
case, and in John and J, on the other hand, not only has no
governing relation to either word, but can hardly be said to
modify either of them even logically, or to subordinate one
to the other, except in as far as the unavoidable necessity of
putting one word after the other necessarily leads to putting
the less important word last, and so making it appear to be
subordinated. In two and three make five there cannot be any
logical subordination — three being, indeed, a more important
factor than two — although from a grammatical point of view
we are obliged to regard three as joined on to the other word,
and so subordinated to it.
405. Such a sentence as he is tall but not strong might be
expanded into he is tall, but he is not strong without any
change of form except the repetition of he is, so that we
might regard but not strong as an elliptical or contracted
sentence (488), and but, accordingly, as a sentence-con-
necting instead of a word-connecting conjunction. So also
such a sentence as Mr. Smith and Professor Green called
while you were out might be expanded into Mr. Smith called
first, and then Professor Green called by himself, but it would
generally be taken to mean that they called together —
that Mr. Smith brought Professor Green with him. In Mr.
and Mrs. Smith called to take leave, the and would almost
142 INTRODUCTION. [§ 406.
necessarily have the latter function; and it would evidently
be absurd to expand he ate three pieces of bread and butter into
he ate three pieces of bread, and he ate three pieces of butter ;
while to expand two and three make five into two makes five
and three makes five would result in nonsense. Again, the
grammatical structure of such a sentence as Caesar and
Pompey were both great men makes it impossible to expand
it into two full sentences without completely recasting it.
It is evident, therefore, that from a grammatical point of view
it is not only simplest and easiest, but also most correct to
regard but in he is tall but not strong, he is tall but weak as a
word-connecter, tall-but-not- strong, tall-but-weak being group-
predicates logically equivalent to such a group as tallness-
with-weakness in such a sentence as he combines tallness
with weakness.
406. But the main function of conjunctions is to connect
sentences. The most unmistakeable conjunctions are those
which connect sentences as wholes, without entering into any
special relations with any of the separate words of which the
sentences are made up. Thus in the sentence-combination
he went one ivay and I went another, we cannot say that and
is associated with or modifies either logically or grammati-
cally any one word in either sentence.
407. But it sometimes happens that the form of a
sentence is modified by a conjunction. Thus in German
the verb of a clause introduced by such a conjunction as
if is always put at the end of the clause, so that such a
clause as if it is true appears in German as *if it true is, the
verb having the same position as in English in an inde-
pendent sentence such as it is true. Sometimes the addition
of a conjunction is attended, in English as in other languages,
by changes in the individual words composing the sentence,
as in if I knew it, if it were true, compared with / know it, it
is true. But such changes are quite different from the me-
chanical change of *with I into with me : we feel that the
§ 409.] CONJUNCTIONS. 143
change of know into knew is only an imperfect method of
modifying the whole sentence. In fact, the change in if it
were true is really independent of the conjunction if, which
may be dropped altogether without altering the sense, were it
true having exactly the same meaning as if it were true.
408. We have already seen (375) that the distinction
between pure conjunctions and dependent adverbs is that
while the former join sentences together as wholes, the latter
join the sentence they introduce to some word in the other
sentence, so that their sentence-joining function is, to some
extent, a secondary one. Strictly speaking, if we call when
in / know when he came a conjunction, we ought to call the
pronoun who in / knoiv who came a conjunction also,
specially when we observe that in such a sentence as why
consult John, who knows nothing about it it has the full
causal meaning of the conjunction because, this sentence
being equivalent to it is no use consulting John, because he
knoivs nothing about it. In fact it is only the difficulty of
distinguishing between dependent adverbs and conjunctions
that makes us include them all under the latter head.
409. There is also a class of independent adverbs
which closely resemble conjunctions, such as still and never-
theless, as in your arguments are strong ; still (nevertheless)
they do not convince me, compared with your arguments are
strong, but they do not convince me. For convenience we
may call such adverbs half-conjunctions. The difference
between half- and full conjunctions is that half-conjunctions
connect logically only, not formally also, as full conjunctions
do. Two clauses connected by a full conjunction run on
without a pause and constitute a single complex sentence,
while two sentences connected by a half-conjunction may
be — and often are — separated by a pause, and the whole
group is felt to be a logical not a formal group. Hence,
in writing, sentences connected by full conjunctions are
generally separated by a comma, or not at all, while sen-
144 INTRODUCTION. [§ 410.
tences connected by half-conjunctions are separated by a
semicolon or full stop. The difference between these two
classes of particles is analogous to that between an
independent pronoun such as he and the corresponding
dependent pronoun who : just as he refers to a preceding
sentence telling us who ' he ' is, so also still and nevertheless
refer us back to a sentence which the one they introduce
seems to contradict; and yet the sentences introduced by
these three words are all formally independent of the
preceding ones.
410. It will be observed that half-conjunctions are in one
respect more closely allied to full conjunctions than de-
pendent adverbs are, namely that they never refer back
grammatically to any one word in the preceding sentence.
411. Half-conjunctions are necessarily sentence-modifying
adverbs. Many of them do not necessarily stand at the
beginning of the sentence, as is always the case with pure
conjunctions in English. Thus the half-conjunction however
can stand at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a
sentence : however, I told him it would not do — / told him,
however, it would not do — / told him it would not do, however.
So also nevertheless stands at the end of the sentence in he
did it nevertheless. In this way half-conjunctions are often
used concurrently with full ones, as in if, however, . . =
but if . .
412. But half-conjunctions often single out one particular
word in the sentence they introduce. Also, too, which are
the half-conjunctions corresponding to and, often have this
function, as in / also will go, I will go too, where they single
out /, although too is put at the other end of the sentence.
Compare the similar use of even in even Homer sometimes
nods (367).
MEANING.
413. The conjunctions (including dependent adverbs) and
§ 4i6.] CONJUNCTIONS. 145
half-conjunctions are classed according to their meaning as
affirmative (copulative), alternative, negative, adversative,
concessive, hypothetical, temporal, and causal.
414. The chief affirmative or copulative conjunction is
and, which simply connects without implying any special
kind of connection. It is thus the most abstract and
general in meaning of all the pure conjunctions. The
correlative pairs both . . and, not only . . but have the same
meaning as and, but are more emphatic. The half-con-
junction corresponding to and is also, for which too is
substituted in the spoken language. Likewise and as well
as have the same function, but are more emphatic. There
are besides a large number of affirmative half-conjunctions
with various shades of meaning, such as further, moreover,
now, well. Thus now in not this man, but Barabbas ; now
Barabbas was a thief, adds an explanatory circumstance ; the
other words show a step in an argument, etc.
415. The chief alternative conjunction is or, whose
emphatic form is the correlative either . . or. Alternative
conjunctions imply that one only of two or more words,
word-groups, or sentences joined together by them is to be
taken into consideration, it being left open which is to be
selected. Thus answer yes or no!, answer either yes or no!
implies the expectation of one of these answers, and one
only, the speaker not knowing which answer will be given.
These are examples of strong alternatives. When or
implies indifference, as in give me tnoo or three nails, it is a
weak alternative, and is often used to express a mere
verbal alternative, as in Christ or the Messiah, Canute or
Cnut, which is also expressed by the adverb alias. It is to
be observed that the emphatic either . . or always has the
strong meaning.
416. The chief negative conjunctions are the correlative
neither . . nor, the simple nor being in less frequent use.
They are of course formed from the alternatives either, or by
VOL. i. L
146 INTRODUCTION. [§417.
prefixing the negative n-, and may therefore be included
under the alternative conjunctions. It is evident that nega-
tiving an alternative — that is, forbidding us to select any of
the members of it — is equivalent to negativing all of them.
Thus he has neither relations, nor friends, nor money '= he has
not either relations, or friends, or money is equivalent to he has
not any relations, he has not any friends, he has not any money.
Hence the negation of an alternative simply amounts to the
negation of an affirmative, so that nor is equivalent to and
not, as in / remained silent, nor did he speak a single word.
417. The chief adversative conjunction is but. Adver-
satives add something which is unexpected, or, at any rate,
does not follow naturally from what has just been said, or
seems to check the natural progress of a narration, argument,
etc. Thus the idea of * trying ' naturally suggests that of
4 succeeding,' and hence words or word-groups expressing
these two ideas in their natural sequence are joined together
by and : he tried several times, and at last succeeded. Failure,
on the other hand, though a frequent result of trying, is felt
to check this natural sequence, and so a statement of failure
is joined on to a statement of attempt by means of but : he
tried hard, but did not succeed. But if there is anything in
the foregoing context which prepares us for the idea of
unsuccessful attempt, then the statement of failure is joined
on by and: he is very unlucky ; he is always trying new things,
and always failing. But most frequently connects the con-
trasts of affirmation and negation, as in he is rich, but not
happy. There are several half-conjunctions used adversatively,
such as still, nevertheless, however, only, and several half-
conjunction groups, such as at the same time, for all that, in
spite of that.
418. The concessive conjunctions are closely allied to the
adversative. The most important of them are though, although,
and the correlative though . . yet. Though and although
imply that the statement they introduce will be followed by
§ 420.] CONJUNCTIONS. 147
one with an adversative meaning. Thus in although I dislike
the man, I have not anything to say against him, the concessive
conjunction states the speaker's dislike of another man, but
at the same time warns us against inferring that he will speak
ill of that man. So also in though deep yet dear (said of the
Thames as it once was) the deepness of the river is admitted,
but we are warned against inferring that the river is therefore
wanting in clearness. The difference between an adversative
and a concessive conjunction is that the former refers back,
the latter forwards. Hence the correlative though . . yet is
really equivalent to although . . but, so that if we drop the
though, the remaining yet is almost identical in meaning with
but : deep yet dear •= deep but clear.
419. The chief hypothetical conjunction is if. Unless is
a negative hypothetical conjunction = ifnot: unless I am
mistaken-=.if I am not mistaken. There are also a variety of
hypothetical group-conjunctions, such as in case, supposing
that, provided that> which are often shortened into supposing,
suppose, provided.
420. There are some conjunctions which express hypo-
thesis with other meanings. Otherwise, for which or is
substituted in the spoken language, has the meaning ' if
otherwise/ and expresses hypothetical difference, as in
we must make haste, otherwise (or) we shall be too late, where
otherwise means ' if we act differently/ that is, ' if we do
not make haste/ the negation implied referring back, so
that otherwise is quite distinct in meaning from unless, in
which the negation refers forwards. The correlative pair
whether . . or expresses alternative hypothesis, as in he
will have to do it whether he likes it or not. Hypothetical
concession is expressed by even if: even if he is mistaken,
you need not tell him so. Hypothetical comparison is
expressed by as if: he started as if he had been shot.
The hypothetical z/and whether, which are pure conjunctions,
must be distinguished from the dependent adverbs if and
whether (374).
L 2
148 INTRODUCTION. [§ 421.
421. The temporal conjunctions, or conjunctions of time,
are connected partly with adverbs, such as when and as,
partly with prepositions, such as before, after, since, until, till.
While is associated with when through beginning with the
same consonant, which is, however, a mere chance, while
being originally a noun meaning ' time ' quite unconnected
with when. The most markedly adverbial of these is when,
which is used (a) as an independent interrogative adverb, as
in when did he come ? ; (d) as a relative adverb, as in he re-
members the time when there were no railways ; (c) a conjunc-
tive adverb, as in 1 know when he came ; and (d) less dis-
tinctly as an adverb, though hardly as a pure conjunction : he
came when I was out ; / had scarcely begun, when I was in-
terrupted again', when he came, I was not at home. While,
as, and the conjunctions formed from prepositions are used
only in constructions similar to those given above under (d) :
he came while I was out ; as he passed by, he looked in at the
window; he came before 1 had finished breakfast ; wait till I
have finished my letter. There are many secondary and
group-conjunctions of time, most of which express immedi-
ateness, such as directly in directly he came ; immediately, as
soon as, just as, just after, etc.
Adverbs of place are not regarded as conjunctions even
when they are used in the same constructions as while, etc.., as
in / will stay where I am.
422. Causal conjunctions are subdivided into four classes,
conjunctions of cause, of effect, of result, and of purpose.
423. The two chief conjunctions of cause are because,
which states an immediate and direct cause, andy^r, which
adds an explanation or reason, often as a kind of after-
thought : we took our umbrellas, because we were afraid it
would rain ; for the barometer had been falling for some timet
For is, accordingly, freely used after a pause, and is therefore
only a half-conjunction. Since and as, which are primarily
§ 426.] CONJUNCTIONS. 149
conjunctions of time, are used also as pure conjunctions of
cause.
424. The chief conjunction of effect is therefore, for
which so is substituted in the spoken language : it is getting
late, so I will go home. The temporal then is also used as -a
conjunction of effect: then you had better go home. Accord-
ingly and consequently are secondary conjunctions of effect.
All conjunctions of effect are half-conjunctions, because they
introduce what are logically independent clauses, as we see
by comparing it is getting late, so I will go home with as it is
getting late, I will go home. In each of these two sentences
only one clause is prepared : in the first sentence only the
independent clause is prepared, in the second it is left un-
prepared. In languages which favour correlation, such as
Old English, both clauses in such sentences are often pre-
pared, so that the two sentences appear in the form of because
it is getting late therefore I will go home or therefore I will go
home because it is getting late.
425. The chief conjunction of purpose is that together
with the more emphatic in order that : we sow (in order) that
we may reap. Negative purpose or avoidance is expressed
by lest, for which so that . . not is generally substituted in
the spoken language : they took away the knife lest he should
cut himself =. they took away the knife so that he should not cut
himself.
COORDINATIVE AND SUBORDINATIVE CONJUNCTIONS.
426. We have seen (404) that such a conjunction as and
does not logically subordinate the word or sentence it intro-
duces to what goes before. Thus in such a sentence as he is
tall and strong, strong is as much a predication-element as
tall, neither adjective being, from a logical point of view,
subordinated to the other, so that we can transpose them
without affecting the sense : he is strong and tall. We call
150 INTRODUCTION. [§427-
such conjunctions coordinative conjunctions, or, more
shortly, co- conjunctions.
427. A subordinative conjunction, or sub-conjunction,
on the other hand, makes the word or sentence it introduces
into a logical adjunct to what precedes. Thus the sub-con-
junction ifmif it is fine, I will go makes it is fine into an
adjunct to I will go, and we cannot shift if from one clause
to the other, as we could and, without altering the sense or
making nonsense.
428. Of the pure conjunctions the following are co-
ordinative : and, both . . and ; or, either ..or', nor, neither . .
nor; but. The half- conjunctions belonging to the same
classes as these are also coordinative, such as also, neverthe-
less, however.
429. All the other pure conjunctions and all dependent
adverbs are subordinative : though, although, though . . yet',
if, unless, whether ..or', because, since, as, that ; when, as,
while, before, after, since in their various meanings.
The half-conjunctions belonging to the same classes as the
above are often regarded as sub-conjunctions, especially those
of cause— for, therefore, accordingly.
430. If we take the word conjunction in its widest sense,
we may say that and and that in / know that it is true repre-
sent the two extremes of abstract coordination and abstract
subordination.
DETACHED CONJUNCTIONS.
431. The co-conjunctions and, or, nor, but, are olten so
detached from what precedes them that they are almost
equivalent to half- conjunctions, as in the following passage,
where the detached conjunctions are in Roman letters : —
If any artist, I do not say had executed, but had merely
conceived in his mind the system of the sun, and the stars, and
planets, they not existing, and had painted to us in words, or
upon canvas, the spectacle now afforded by the nightly cope of
§ 434-1 INTERJECTIONS. 151
heaven, great would be our admiration. Or had he imagined
the scenery of this earth, the mountains, the seas, and the rivers ;
the grass, and the flowers, and the colours which attend the
setting and the rising sun, and the hues of the atmosphere, these
things not before existing, truly we should have been astonished.
But now these things are looked on with little wonder, and to be
conscious of them with intense delight is esteemed to be the
distinguishing mark of a refined and extraordinary person.
(SHELLEY : On Life.)
432. It is evident that the detached or and but in this pas-
sage have a function different from and vaguer than that of the
same conjunctions as they occur undetached in the first para-
graph of it. Detached conjunctions are often marked by strong
stress, especially when they are followed, as is often the case,
by an adverb or half-conjunction or a parenthetic word-group
or sentence, as when the paragraphs of a long argument
begin with and, indeed, . . ; nor, on the other hand, . . ; but,
if we consider etc.
A detached conjunction stands in the same relation to an
undetached one as a progressive relative (218) does to an
ordinary relative.
Interjections.
433. Interjections are sentence-words expressing various
emotions, such as —
surprise : o !, oh !, ah !, ha !, aha !, the first often express-
ing mere attention or interest (real or affected) in what is said.
joy : hurrah !, huzza !
approbation : bravo !
grief : ah !, alas !, heigho !
dislike, vexation, etc. : pah !, ugh !, pshaw!, tut I, fie !
These are all emotional interjections.
434. There is also a class of interjections of more definite
meaning, which, instead of merely expressing an emotion of
the speaker, are equivalent to imperative sentences, and may
152 INTRODUCTION. [§ 435.
therefore be called imperative interjections. Thus instead
of the imperatives look!, behold! we may in writing use the
interjection lo ! Another imperative interjection is hush !
from which a verb to hush has been formed.
435. Expletives and oaths, of which there is a large
number in English, are a class of interjections intermediate
in function between the two former classes, being used partly
to express emotion, partly to influence the actions of other
human beings and animals.
436. Of the above interjections some are primary, some
secondary. Primary interjections are mostly reproductions
of the sounds we make involuntarily when under the influence
of various emotions. It will be observed that many of the
written interjections — such as tut! — are imperfect attempts
to express sounds which do not occur in the non-interjec-
tional words of the language.
Thus tut! represents one of that class of sounds known as
' clicks,' which form part of the regular non-interjectional sound-
system of many barbarous languages, such as Zulu and the
native languages of California. It represents the * point-click,'
formed by putting the point of the tongue in the t-positiou,
and sucking the air from under it, so that when the contact
is loosened, a smacking sound is produced. Some written
interjections represent a familiar sound in an unfamiliar occur-
rence. Thus hush / represents the consonant (J) uttered without
a vowel.
437. Secondary interjections are ordinary words which
have come to be used as interjections by various processes
of isolation. Thus the old-fashioned expletive marry ! is
simply the name of the Virgin Mary with the vowel shortened.
Bravo! is an Italian adjective or adverb meaning 'good/
' well done/ which in Italian itself came to be used as an
interjection, and was then imported into English.
438. If an ordinary word is used as an interjection without
being isolated either in form — as in marry / — or in meaning
— as in the case of bravo / — we cannot regard it as a full
§ 44r-l WORD-GROUPS. 153
interjection, but only as an exclamation- word. Good!,
shame! are examples of exclamation-words, one being an
exclamation-adjective, the other an exclamation-noun. For
shame! is an example of an exclamation-group.
439. Interjections occasionally imitate the constructions
of the other parts of speech. Thus ah ! governs an objective
case in ah me ! ; alas ! takes a noun-adjunct by means of the
preposition for, as in alas for the deed!, or without any pre-
position, as in alas the heavy day !
WORD-GROUPS.
440. Word-groups differ greatly in the closeness with
which their elements — that is, the words of which they are
made up — are associated together. Many word-groups
resemble sentences in the freedom with which they allow one
word to be substituted for another of like grammatical func-
tion, or a new word to be introduced. We call such word-
groups free groups. Thus the free group for my sake can
be made into for his sake, for his own sake, and the skeleton
for . . sake can be transposed into for the sake of. But in
such groups as son-in-law, man-of-war, bread-and-butter, cup
and saucer, no such variations are possible, the order of the
elements of these groups being as rigidly fixed as in a com-
pound word. We call such combinations group -compounds,
to distinguish them from full compounds such as blackbird.
The essential difference between the two kinds of compounds
is seen in the plurals sons-in-law, etc.. where the first element
is independent enough to take an inflection of its own. We
have another kind of group-compounds in no use=usetess,
whatsoever, moreover, etc.
Most of these resemble true compounds in having one pre-
dominant stress : 'son-m-laiv, bread and 'butter, whatsoever.
441. Word-groups (and group-compounds) can be put
154 INTRODUCTION. [§ 442.
before a single noun so as to form a kind of compound with
it, by which the members of the group are often logically
united together more closely than when the group is detached,
although for convenience they are separated in writing.
Thus cat and dog life is analogous to home-life, good all round
man to prizeman, etc.
These compounds also have one predominant stress : cat and
'dog life, good all 'round man.
442. Even in derivation, word-groups are treated like
single words, a derivative ending being added to the last
member of the group, while it modifies the meaning of the
whole group, by which it binds them together more closely
than they are connected in the underived group. Thus from
the free group old maid is formed the fixed derivative group
old-maidish.
We have a peculiar kind of group-derivation in artificial
florist corresponding to artificial flower, in which florist is felt
to be equivalent to *flower-ist, the whole group meaning not
' a florist who is artificial,' but ' artificial-flower-maker.'
443. In inflection it is quite common in English to treat a
word-group like a single word. Not only group-compounds
such as son-in-law form their genitives son-in-law s, etc., but
also free groups, as in the man I saw yesterday s father,
where it would make nonsense to regard yesterday as the
genitive of the single word yesterday. Here, as in old-maidish,
it is the final modification which binds the elements of the
group closely together.
444. In this way a word-group may be grammatically
equivalent to a part of speech: in the example just given
the word-group not only has the meanings and grammatical
functions of a single noun, but takes the inflection of a noun.
So also the group no use in it is no use is an adjective equiva-
lent ; and the combination preposition + noun-word is equiva-
lent to an adverb, as in with ease •= easily.
§ 448-l SENTENCES. 155
445. Word-groups often approach very near in gramma-
tical function to sentences. If we take a simple sentence and
change its finite verb into a verbal, the resulting verbal-
group has really as much meaning in it as the corresponding
sentence, as we see by comparing the sentence he came home
with the verbal-group his coming home. In a verbal-group
containing an infinitive, a noun-word in the objective relation
may be a logical subject, as in / want him to go home=J 'wish
he would go home.
SENTENCES.
446. Sentences — like word-groups — consist of significant
elements, or words.
447. A sentence is a word or group of words capable of
expressing a complete thought or meaning. Whether or not
a given word or group of words is capable of doing this in
any one language depends on the way in which that language
constructs its sentences — that is, on their form. Thus in
Latin comes would be a complete sentence, but not in
English, although in itself comes is as intelligible as the com-
plete sentence some one comes or some one is coming. A
sentence is, therefore, ' a word or group of words whose form
makes us expect it to express a full meaning/ We say
* expect/ because it depends on the context whether or not
any one sentence expresses a complete meaning. Thus,
such a sentence as he is coming, though complete in form,
shows on the face of it that it is incomplete in meaning, for
he means ' some one who has been mentioned before/ and
makes us ask ' who is he ? ' Nevertheless he is coming is a
complete sentence because it has the same form ^ John is
coming, I am coming, etc., which are complete in meaning as
well as form — as far, at least, as any one sentence can be
said to be complete.
448. As regards the relation between the meaning of the
156" INTRODUCTION. [§449.
sentence and the meanings of its elements, sentences are of
two kinds, general and special. A general sentence is one
whose meaning is the necessary result of the meanings of the
separate words of which it is made up and the principles on
which words are joined together grammatically. Thus any
one who knows the meanings of such words as have, book, dog,
uncle, etc., and the rules of English grammar can form any
number of ' Ollendorffian ' sentences such as / have a book ;
my uncle has the big dog, but I have the good book, and so on.
In special sentences or idioms, on the other hand, such
as how do you do ?, I cannot help it, the meaning of the whole
cannot be inferred from the meanings of its elements. In
fact, in / cannot help it, help may be said to be used in the
sense of ' hinder/ ' prevent/ which is the opposite of its ordi-
nary meaning. In idioms, therefore, the meaning of the
whole is isolated against that of the parts, just as in compound
words (68). But most idioms, though irregular in meaning,
are quite regular and normal in form, / cannot help it, for
instance, being formally on a level with such a general
sentence I cannot see him: just as the latter can be made
into we cannot see him, they cannot see him, etc., so also /
cannot help it can be made into we could not help being late,
etc. Such an idiom as how do you do ? is more fossilized,
being capable of very little variation : we could hardly say
how did you do yesterday ?
449. Hence we can make how do you do into a word with
plural inflection, as in how-do-you-do s were exchanged.
Forgetmenot, the name of a flower, is an example of a group
compound — with isolation of meaning — formed directly from
a sentence.
450. Sentences — like words — differ in fulness of meaning.
Just as there are empty words, so also there are empty
sentences (or clauses), as opposed to full ones. Thus in the
complex sentence is it me (that] you want ? the first clause is
it me?, though grammatically an independent clause, is logic-
§ 452-] SENTENCES. 157
ally superfluous, and the same meaning might be expressed
by getting rid of it, and putting the me into the dependent
clause, which then becomes an independent sentence — do you
want me ? The clause is it me ? is evidently made up solely
in order to make the me more prominent by bringing it
nearer the beginning of the sentence and making it the logical
subject. Hence, although such empty clauses are, as clauses,
devoid of meaning, they necessarily contain an emphatic full-
word.
451. As every sentence is the expression of a thought, and
as thought consists in joining together subject and predicate,
and as the idea of predication is expressed in English by a
(finite) verb, it follows that every normal English sentence
ought to contain at least two words — a subject-word and a
predicative verb. Hence also every group of words which
contains a verb is, grammatically speaking, a sentence.
452. In some cases, however, a complete meaning is ex-
pressed by a single word — a sentence-word — such as come !
= 'I command you to come/ where the subject being self-
evident, the predicate-word by itself is enough to constitute a
sentence. In John!=.l\ ask John to come — to attend to
me/ etc., the subject-word does duty for the predicate as
well, which is omitted because of its vagueness. In j/«f='I
agree with you/ { I will do so/ etc., no, alas/='I am sorry
for it/ etc., the distinction between subject and predicate is felt
only vaguely. We see, then, that these * one-word-sentences '
are of two kinds, consisting (a) of a definite subject or predi-
cate standing alone, and (b) of a word which is in itself neither
definite subject nor definite predicate — in which the ideas of
subject and predicate are not differentiated, but are 'con-
densed/ as it were, in one word. From a grammatical point
of view these condensed sentences are hardly sentences at
all, but rather something intermediate between word and
sentence. A group of words without a finite verb (or verbal)
may also be equivalent to a sentence — may constitute a
158 INTRODUCTION. [§ 453.
sentence-group. The more the merrier is an example of a
sentence-group which is equivalent to a combination of two
clauses. Many other examples are afforded by proverbs,
sayings, titles of books, etc., such as better late than never,
Measure for Measure.
453. A sentence is not only a logical but a phonetic unity.
A continuous discourse from a phonetic point of view con-
sists of a succession of sounds divided into breath-groups
by the pauses required for taking breath. Within these
breath-groups there is no separation of the individual words
(51). For the sake of clearness we generally wait to take
breath till we come to the end of a statement, question, etc.,
so that a breath-group is generally equivalent to a sense-
group, that is, a sentence. In a dialogue, which is the
simplest and most natural way of using language, the short
sentences of which it mostly consists are marked off by a
complete cessation of the speaker's voice. The end of a
sentence may be marked phonetically in other ways, especi-
ally by intonation. Thus in English we mark the close of a
statement by a falling tone, while a rising tone shows that
the statement is incomplete, or that a question is intended.
In writing we mark off the end of a complete statement by
various marks of punctuation, especially the full stop (.).
454. A long sense-group or sentence is often divided into
smaller sense-groups by change of intonation, etc., or by a
slight pause. The slower or the more emphatically we speak,
the more pauses we make. In writing, these smaller divisions
are generally marked by a comma (,), showing the rise of
the voice which tells us that though we have arrived at the
end of a sentence, yet the sense is not complete till we come
to the falling tone indicated by the full stop, semicolon, etc.
Thus in when I came lack, I found no one at home we have
two simple sentences or clauses united in this way into a
complex sentence.
455. The form and function of a sentence may be regarded
§ 458.] SENTENCES. 159
from two points of view, internal and external. The internal
structure of a sentence is determined by the relations between
the words of which it is made up (81), in English especially
by their order. The most important distinctions in the internal
structure of sentences are those by which they express the
different relations between subject and predicate in statement,
question, etc. (43).
456. But we must also consider the external relations of
sentences, by which we regard each sentence as a whole or
unit, without troubling ourselves about the relations between
the words of which it is made up. When we look at sentences
from this point of view, we find that they can stand in the
same relations to other sentences and to single words as
words do to one another. Thus in / see you are mistaken,
the clause you are mistaken stands in the same grammatical
relation to the v£rb see as the noun-word that does in / know
that.
457. There are two ways of showing the external rela-
tions of sentences. One is by their order. Just as words
in sentences have a more or less fixed order, so also in
groups of sentences the sentences or clauses follow each other
in a certain fixed order. Thus in the above example the
adjunct-clause follows the head-clause, while in other com-
binations the order is reversed, as in if you are ready, we will
start at once,
458. Another way of showing the external relations of
sentences is by the help of form- words, such as relative and
conjunctive pronouns, adverbs, and conjunctions, all of which
generally come at the beginning of the sentence. A sentence
modified by a form-word is called a prepared sentence.
Thus in / see that you are mistaken, that you are mistaken is a
prepared sentence or clause, as compared with the unpre-
pared clause you are mistaken in I see you are mistaken.
The external relations of sentences cannot be shown by
inflection, because an inflected sentence is necessarily con-
160 INTRODUCTION. l§ 459-
verted into a word (449). For the same reason they are
incapable of derivation. Sentences are also incapable of com-
position in the way words are compounded: in a complex
sentence there is no isolation of the meaning of the whole
against that of the clauses of which it is made up.
RELATIONS BETWEEN SENTENCES.
459. Simple sentences are of two kinds, independent and
dependent [cp. 199]. An independent sentence is one
whose grammatical structure allows it to stand alone. A
dependent sentence is one that cannot stand alone, but
makes us expect another — generally an independent — sen-
tence to complete its meaning. Thus in the complex sen-
tence when I came back, I found no one at home, the first
sentence is dependent, the second independent. All pre-
pared sentences introduced by dependent words, whether pro-
nouns, adverbs, or conjunctions, are necessarily dependent.
Thus in the above example the dependent sentence when I
came back is introduced by the dependent adverb or conjunc-
tion when. Unprepared dependent sentences may generally
be expanded into prepared sentences. Thus the unprepared
sentences in you are the man I want, 1 see you are mistaken
may be expanded into whom 1 want, that you are mistaken.
460. Sentences are also distinguished as coordinate
and subordinate, according as they are introduced by a
coordinative or a subordinative conjunction (426).
Sentences introduced by a progressive relative pronoun or
adverb must be regarded as coordinate (218, 373).
461. The distinction between independent and dependent
does not always exactly agree with that between coordinate
and subordinate, because the former is a purely grammatical
distinction, the latter a logical one. Hence although all inde-
pendent sentences are necessarily coordinate, it does not
follow that all coordinate sentences are necessarily inde-
pendent. In fact all sentences introduced by conjunctions
§ 464.] SENTENCES. 1 6 1
are grammatically dependent. Tims such a coordinate sen-
tence as and I will ride can no more stand alone than a
subordinate one such as while I ride, both equally requiring
a preceding independent sentence to complete their meaning :
you shall walk and I will ride ; you shall walk, while I ride.
So also it makes nonsense to introduce a sentence with or
without telling us what the other alternative is.
A sentence introduced by a detached conjunction (431)
must, of course, be regarded as independent.
Clauses and Complexes.
462. Two or more sentences may be joined together to
form a single complex sentence, or complex, as we may call
it for the sake of brevity. When simple sentences are joined
together in this way we call them clauses.
463. In every complex there is one independent clause,
called the principal clause, together with at least one de-
pendent clause, which stands in the relation of adjunct to the
principal clause. The dependent clause may be either co-
ordinate or subordinate. We call a coordinate clause a
co-clause, a subordinate clause a sub-clause. Thus myou
shall walk, and I will ride, the first clause is the principal
clause, and the second is a co-clause, \nyou are the man 1
want, the second clause — I want— is a sub- clause. So also
\r\you shall walk while I ride.
464. When a principal clause is followed by one or more
co-clauses — as in the first of the examples given above — it
may itself be called a co-clause, as being coordinate with the
clauses that follow it.
In such a sentence as the more yott beat them, the better they
be, the two clauses are so mutually dependent on each other
that it is difficult to decide which is the principal clause, and
whether they are not both dependent. For grammatical pur-
poses we may regard the first as the principal clause simply on
the ground of its coming first.
VOL. I. M
l62 INTRODUCTION. [§465.
465. A complex in which the principal clause is modified
by a co-clause is called, for the sake of brevity, a co-
complex, and one in which it is modified by a sub-clause
is called a sub-complex. Thus the first complex in § 463
is a co-complex, the other two are sub-complexes.
466. As it is most natural to put the principal clause first
in a complex, it is not generally necessary to call attention to
the order of the clauses except when the adjunct-clause is
put before the head-clause. This is impossible with co-
complexes, but is frequent with sub-complexes. When a
sub-clause comes before its principal clause, the former is
called the front-clause, the latter the after-clause. Thus
in the sub-complex if I can, I will do it, the hypothetical
sub-clause if I can is called the front-clause, and the prin-
cipal clause / will do it is called the after-clause.
Inserted, Parenthetic, and Appended Clauses.
467. When a sub-clause is put inside another clause, so
as to cut it in two, it is called an inserted clause ; thus in
/ hope, if all goes well, to finish it tomorrow, the sub-clause
if all goes well is inserted in the principal clause / hope to
finish it tomorrow.
468. If we expand this complex into / hope, if all goes
well, that I shall finish it tomorrow, we have a three-clause
instead of a two-clause complex, and the inserted clause,
instead of interrupting a simple sentence, only breaks the
continuity between a principal clause and a sub-clause which
is more intimately connected with the principal clause than
the inserted clause is. When a clause is inserted in this way
it may be called a middle clause.
469. A clause may be inserted into a dependent clause,
as in he is a man, who, if he chose, might do great things.
Here the inserted clause if he chose is put immediately after
the sentence-link who, which is a frequent position of an
inserted clause.
§ 472-1 SENTENCES. 163
470. When an inserted clause contains an inserted clause
in itself — which last may again contain an inserted clause —
the process is called incapsulation, and the whole group is
called an incapsulation-complex.
471. When an independent sentence is inserted, it is called
a parenthetic sentence or a parenthesis. Thus in / shall
finish it, I hope, by the end of the week, I hope is a parenthesis.
In this example the parenthetic sentence contains a transitive
verb without an object- word, the logical object of hope being
really expressed by the sentence into which the parenthesis
is inserted, so that / hope is logically the principal clause,
the whole sentence being equivalent to / hope I shall finish
it by the end of the week. So also with the frequent paren-
thetic use of verbs of saying, etc., as in this, I say, is the
place. Sometimes a parenthesis — especially when its verb
does not require to be supplemented by an object- word, etc.
— is logically equivalent to a sub-clause, as in the two brothers
— they were twins — were exactly alike, where the parenthesis
explains why they were alike, and is thus equivalent to a
causal clause. So also in the frequent parentheses containing
the verb mean : he says — / mean John Smith — that ... In
the above examples the parentheses are unprepared. But
co-clauses and sentences introduced by half-conjunctions can
also be used parenthetically, as in if you are in the wrong —
and I am sure you are in the wrong— you must apologize,
where we may substitute the half-conj unction for for the co-
conjunction and. In this we have an example of what may
be called a middle parenthesis (cp. 468), and, at the same
time, of a parenthesis which is a complex instead of being
a simple sentence.
472. In such a sentence as I am a doctor, you know, the
second clause is exactly analogous to a parenthesis, except
that it comes at the end. We may call such a clause an
appended clause.
M 2
164 INTRODUCTION. [§473-
Extended Complexes.
473. A complex which consists of more than two clauses
is called an extended complex.
474. The simplest kind of extended complex is one which
consists of a principal clause followed by two or more co-
clauses : / read the paper, and then I wrote a letter, and then
I went for a walk. In such complexes the clauses stand in
no special relation to one another, being connected only by
forming part of the same complex.
475. But if an extended complex contains a sub-clause,
the sub-clause must necessarily be specially connected with
some other clause which acts as principal clause to it, form-
ing with it a lesser complex within the extended complex.
Thus in such an extended complex as / began to write a
letter, but I could not finish it, because I was interrupted, the
sub-clause because I was interrupted is inseparably connected
with the preceding clause, forming with it the sub-complex
I could not finish it, because I was interrupted. The sub- clause
cannot therefore enter into special relations with any other
clause but this in the extended complex, so that it has no
direct connection with the clause / began to write a letter ;
but the combination of which it forms part — the lesser com-
plex— can do so : in the above example the lesser complex
is put in a coordinate relation to the clause / began to write
a letter by means of the conjunction but, so that the whole
extended complex consists of a principal clause followed by
a coordinate sub-complex, which we may express briefly
thus : principal + coordinate sub-complex. It will be seen
that such extended complexes contain two principal clauses.
We call the principal clause of the lesser complex — I could
not finish it — the secondary principal clause, as opposed
to the primary principal clause / began to write a letter,
which is the principal clause of the whole extended complex.
476. It is evident that extended complexes containing
§ 480.] SENTENCES. 165
sub-clauses admit of a great variety of form, for the lesser
complexes contained in them may be co-complexes as well
as sub-complexes, and they may be joined to the primary
principal clause subordinately as well as coordinately. Thus
in the extended complex it is a book which I have read once,
and which I hope to read again, we have the combination
principal + subordinate co-complex. In lam anxious because
the letter I expected has not arrived we have principal -f-
subordinate sub-complex, / expected being an inserted clause
(467).
477. We can also have a principal complex instead of a
principal clause, as in the earth is a big ball that is always
spinning round like a top, and at the same time it moves round
the sun in a circle=. principal sub-complex + co-clause. This
scheme can of course be varied by substituting a co-complex
or a sub-clause.
478. But an arrangement consisting entirely of co-com-
plexes and co-clauses in any order is indistinguishable from
an extended complex made by adding on separate co-clauses
to a principal clause. Thus such an extended complex as /
have written a letter, but I wrote it in a hurry, and it is very
badly written can be analysed only into separate clauses, and
does not contain any lesser complexes, as it would if a sub-
clause were substituted for one of the co-clauses, thus / have
written a letter, but it is very badly written, because I was in a
hurry = principal-}- coordinate sub-complex.
479. In the examples given above, the principal clause
precedes, but its place may be taken by a front-clause or
front complex : if it is a mistake, you are responsible for /'/,
and so am 1= front clause + co-complex.
480. Four-clause complexes containing sub-clauses are
of two kinds. (a) Some of them consist of two com-
plexes : / have always thought, and I always shall think
lhat it was a mistake which could have been avoided = co-
complex + subordinate sub-complex ; if we watch a ship
1 66 INTRODUCTION. [§481.
when she is sailing out to sea, we can see that the earth is
round= front sub-complex + sub complex. (&) The other
class of four-clause complexes consist of a principal clause
and a clause-group consisting of a secondary principal
clause combined with a lesser complex : / meant to call
on you yesterday \ but a friend of yours told me he had
heard you were not at home= principal + coordinate (prin-
cipal + subordinate sub-complex).
481. Extended complexes consisting of more than four
clauses often contain groups of two complexes, as in the
following six-clause complex : there is not generally much
dew, if the sky is not clear ; because, if the sky is cloudy,
the clouds prevent the earth from giving out its heat ; and if
the earth is not cold enough, the dew will not settle on it =
sub-complex + subordinate (sub-complex + coordinate sub-
complex). It will be observed that in this example there
are two secondary principal clauses — the clouds prevent the
earth . . , and the dew will not settle on it.
Sequences.
482. In a complex the clauses must be joined together
by conjunctions, or else the adjunct-clauses must be depen-
dent, as mjyou are the man I want. When two or more inde-
pendent sentences are associated together logically in the same
way as in a complex, the combination is called a sequence.
Thus we have an adversative sequence in am I right, am
I wrong j3 which is logically equivalent to the complex am I
right, or am I wrong ? Such a sequence is therefore equiva-
lent to a co-complex. Such a causal sequence as / am sure
of it: I saw it myself is, on the other hand, equivalent to the
sub-complex I am sure of it, because I saw it myself. In both
of these examples the adjunct-sentence is unprepared. We
call such sequences unprepared sequences.
483. The only prepared sentences that can form part of
a sequence are those which are introduced by a half-
§ 487-] SENTENCES. l6j
conjunction, as in the prepared sequence I was tired ; so /
went to bed, compared with the unprepared sequence / am
tired : I cannot go any further, and the complex / was so
tired that I could not go any further.
484. When a sequence is made up partly of prepared,
partly of unprepared sentences, it is called a partially
prepared sequence.
Relations between Sentences, Complexes, and Sequences.
485. Although the distinction between sentence and
complex is generally quite clear, there are some simple
sentences which approach very near to complexes.
486. A word-group containing a verbal often differs
only grammatically from the same group with the verbal
made into a finite verb, that is, from a sentence (445).
Hence such a simple sentence as / heard of his coming
home can be expanded into the complex / heard that he had
come home. So also / wish him to come back may be ex-
panded into I wish he would come back. Such sentences as
/ heard of his coming home, I wish him to come back, which
contain in themselves the germs of dependent sentences, are
called extended sentences.
487. Extended complexes can often be simplified by
substituting an extended sentence for a lesser complex.
Thus in we can see that the earth is round, if we watch
a ship when she is sailing out to sea, the sub-complex can
be shortened into if we watch a ship sailing out to sea,
and this extended sentence itself can be further reduced to
the verbal-group by watching a ship sailing out to sea. A
complex can sometimes . be shortened into an ordinary
unextended sentence by a slight change ; thus the principal
clause in the above extended complex could be shortened
into we can see the roundness of the earth. Indeed, the whole
four-clause complex can be shortened into the simple sen-
168 INTRODUCTION. [§ 488.
tence we can see the roundness of the earth by watching a ship
sailing out to sea.
488. Another way in which complexes are shortened is
by making sentence-connecting into word-connecting con-
junctions, as when the complex he is tall, but he is not
strong is made into a simple sentence with a group predi-
cate— he is tall, but not strong. Such sentences may be
regarded as a kind of extended sentences, but it is better to
distinguish them from the extended sentences we have just
been considering by calling them contracted sentences.
When a complex is shortened merely by omitting to repeat
a personal pronoun, as in / wrote a letter, and then went out
for a walk', he went away, but soon came back again, the
contraction is so slight that we can hardly regard wrote a
letter and then went for a walk as a group-predicate, and it is
therefore better to call such complexes contracted com-
plexes, and so distinguish them from contracted sentences,
such as he is tall but not strong, which are really distinct in
form — and, to some extent, even in meaning — from complexes.
We must distinguish between contraction and ellipse. In
sucli a sentence as the first month is called January, the second
February, the second clause is not merely contracted, it is
elliptical, both meaning and grammatical construction requiring
the repetition of is called; for if we regarded the second February
as anything but a sentence, it would imply that there were two
Februarys in the year. So also in if possible, I will come
tomorrow, we must assume ellipse in the front clause.
489. As co-complexes are more easily shortened than
sub-complexes, most extended complexes contain more of
the latter than of the former, especially in the spoken
language, which always avoids unnecessarily long com-
plexes.
490. A sentence containing a parenthesis is not gram-
matically a complex, for any connection there may be
between the two is logical, not grammatical : it remains a
§ 493'J SEATTENCES. 169
simple sentence. So also if a parenthesis is introduced into
a complex it does not in any way alter the grammatical
relations between the clauses of the complex.
491. It sometimes happens that a sub-clause stands alone,
as if it were an independent sentence — is detached. The
principal clause to such a detached clause is understood
from the context. Detached clauses are most frequent in
answers, where the principal clause is inferred from the
question : why do not you do it? because I can not. Here the
detached clause because I can not stands for the complex I do
not do it, because I can not — where the sub-clause is elliptical —
the principal clause not being expressed because it has been
already expressed in a slightly different form by the question
itself.
492. The distinction between complex and sequence is
often very slight. When the sentences of which a sequence
is made up are uttered with a rising tone, and are run
together with little or no pause — being separated in writing
only by commas — they are practically equivalent to clauses,
as in the unprepared sequence / came, I saw, I conquered,
and the prepared sequence there was no one there> so I went
away.
493. An extended group of sentences is often composed
partly of dependent clauses, partly of sentences either unpre-
pared or introduced by half-conjunctions, so that the whole
group is partly a complex, partly a sequence. We call such
groups mixed complexes or mixed sequences, according
to which element is predominant. In the two following
examples we have mixed complexes consisting of a complex
followed in one instance by an unprepared sentence, in the
other by one introduced by a half-conjunction : / would not
do it if I were you : you are sure to repent it some time or other
we went out for a walk, but it came on to rain, so we soon
came back. Mixed sequences are generally coordinate : he
came, he saw, and he conquered.
170 IATRODUC770N. [§494-
CLASSES OF SENTENCES.
494. The most obvious way of classifying sentences is
according to the form-words by which they are introduced.
Thus a sentence beginning with but is necessarily an adver-
sative sentence (or clause). A clause beginning with because
is a causal clause, and the complex of which it forms part is
a causal complex. Sentences beginning with affirmative con-
junctions such as and are called copulative sentences. Those
beginning with negative conjunctions such as nor are gener-
ally included under alternative sentences. Clauses intro-
duced by dependent pronouns and adverbs are either relative
or conjunctive clauses.
495. Unprepared sentences are classed according to the
nature of the form-word required to make them into prepared
sentences. Thus I want = whom I want in you are the man I
want is an unprepared relative clause, // is true=that it is true
in / think it is trite is an unprepared conjunctive clause. So
also / came, I saw, I conquered is a copulative unprepared
sequence.
The principal clause in we took our umbrellas because ive
were afraid it would rain may be regarded a • an unprepared
clause of effect (424).
Part of Speech Relations.
496. We have already seen (456) that dependent clauses
stand to their principal clauses in relations similar to those in
which single words stand. From this point of view clauses
fall under the three main heads of noun-clauses, adjective-
clauses, and adverb-clauses.
When we call a clause a noun- etc. clause, we do not mean
to imply that it partakes of the inflections or any other formal
characteristics of a noun ; for it is evident that it would thereby
cease to be a sentence, and would be converted into a noun.
We use the terms noun-clause, etc. only because of their con-
venience and because they cannot cause misunderstanding.
§499-1 SENTENCES. 171
497. A noun-clause may stand to its principal clause in
the relation of (a) subject, (d) predicate, (c) direct object, (d)
apposition : —
(a) subject noun-clause: what you say is true — that you
should think so is quite natural.
(d) predicate noun-clause : this is what 1 mean — my opinion
is that he is mistaken.
(c) object noun- clause : / know what he means — what he
wants I cannot make out — I think you are mistaken.
(d) apposition noun-clause : the wish that he may succeed
is very general — the fact that he is a foreigner does not excuse
him.
498. Adjective-clauses always modify a noun, as in the
door which leads into the garden=the door leading into the
garden, the man I saw yesterday, the house where I was born,
the town he lives in, the reason why / did not do it, the way in
which it is done, the way it is done.
The difference in meaning between a noun-clause and an
adjective-clause is often very slight, as we see by comparing the
noun-clause in I know where he lives with the adjective- clause
in / know the place where he lives.
The distinction between apposition noun-clauses and adjec-
tive-clauses is, of course, analogous to that between a noun in
apposition and an adjective : an apposition noun- clause is more
independent of its noun than an adjective-clause is, so that it is
more difficult to shorten the former.
499. An ad verb- clause stands to its principal clause in
the same relation as an adverb. Thus the adverb-clauses in
he came while I was out, he came before I had gone out are
equivalent to the adverb then in he came then. Adverb-clauses
are classed according to their meaning as adverb-clauses of
time, place, cause, etc. Thus the adverb-clauses given above
are adverb-clauses of time, a clause beginning with because is
an adverb-clause of cause, etc.
Hence a clause introduced by a relative expressing cause
172 INTRODUCTION. [§500.
(408) may be regarded as partly an adverb-, partly an adjective-
clause.
Relations between Subject and Predicate.
500. In thought, subject and predicate stand to one
another in a variety of relations, and these relations are
indicated in language more or less imperfectly by changes in
the form of sentences. In their function of expressing the
relations between subject and predicate sentences fall under
the four main groups — (a) sentences of statement, or
declarative sentences, (6) sentences of exclamation, or
exclamative sentences, (c) sentences of question, or inter-
rogative sentences, and (d) sentences of hortation or im-
perative sentences.
501. (a) Declarative sentences are of two kinds, (a)
sentences of positive statement, or affirmative sentences,
such as the moon is full tonight, and (/3) negative sentences,
such as the moon is not full tonight. But sentences contain-
ing a negation are often equivalent to affirmative sentences
with a negative predicate (366). The word-order of a nor-
mal declarative sentence in English is that the subject pre-
cedes the predicate.
502. (3) Exclamative sentences, such as how bright the
moon is tonight /, how well he rides !, what a fool he looks /,
may be regarded as emphatic affirmative sentences: they
express wonder, joy, grief, indignation, and other kinds of
excitement, either intellectual or emotional. In English the
grammatical predicate of an exclamative sentence comes
after the subject, as in a declarative sentence — the moon is . .
—but the word which is emphasized by the exclamation is
put at the beginning of the sentence preceded by an interro-
gative word such as how or what — how bright . . , what a
fool . . In these two examples the emphasized word is the
logical, as opposed to the grammatical, predicate ; in how
well he rides ! it is only an adjunct to the verb, the verb being
§5o4.] SENTENCES. 173
in this case the logical as well as the grammatical predicate.
Exclamative sentences approach closely in form to inter-
rogative sentences (503). In writing we mark exclamative
sentences with the mark of exclamation or admiration (!),
with which we also mark the imperative sentences.
503. (e) Interrogative sentences imply ignorance about
the predicate, and express the desire of enlightenment about
it. They are of two kinds, general and special. General
interrogative sentences, such as is the moon full tonight ?,
state a subject and predicate, and enquire whether the relation
between them is affirmative or negative, that is, they ex-
pect the answers yes or no, it is or it is not, yes it is, no it is
not, etc. General interrogative are formally distinguished
from declarative sentences by having the grammatical predi-
cate at the beginning of the sentence, so as to indicate that
the speaker is mainly interested in the predicate. Negative
(general) interrogative sentences, such as is not the moon
full tonight ?, imply the expectation of an affirmative answer,
the not seeming to forbid or challenge denial =' if the moon
is not full — which I believe it is — say so/ General interro-
gative sentences are uttered with a rising tone (is the moon
full tonight ') instead of the falling tone which characterizes
not only declarative and exclamatory sentences, but also
special interrogative sentences.
504. Special interrogative sentences, such as who is
he?, what is his name?, where does he live?, when did he
come ?, how did he come ?, begin with an interrogative word,
whose meaning indicates what kind of information is sought.
Thus, if the sentence begins with who, we know that the
speaker wishes to be informed about the identity of the person
indicated by the subject-word ; if the sentence begins with
where, we know that information about the place of some
thing or occurrence is sought, and so on. Hence these
questions are answered, not by yes or no, but by some word
which specializes the meaning indicated by the interrogative
174 INTRODUCTION. [§505.
word. Thus the answer to where does he live '? may be not
far from here, in London, in the north of London, etc., with
various degrees of definiteness, or the answer may be evaded
by the other speaker saying / do not know, etc. Special in-
terrogative sentences are distinguished from general interro-
gative sentences by being uttered with a falling tone (who is
he*), like declarative and imperative sentences, because they
are felt to be equivalent to imperative sentences, when did he
come ?, for instance, being equivalent to ' I know he came
some time or other ; I want to know when.'
When a special interrogative sentence is uttered with a rising
tone, it implies that the speaker wishes for the repetition of an
answer, thus what is his name ' ? means ' tell me his name
again.'
505. There is another class of special interrogative ques-
tions which are still more definite than those introduced by
interrogative words, namely, alternative questions, such
as is he an Oxford or a Cambridge man ?, which are character-
ized by the presence of the strong alternative conjunction
(415), and do not differ from general questions in form,
except that they are uttered with a falling tone, being, like
the other class of special questions, equivalent to a command
= ' I know he is one or the other ; tell me which he is/ But
the answers to these questions are defined even more definitely
than in the other class, being, in fact, given in the question
itself. If a weak is substituted for a strong alternative con-
junction in these sentences, the question becomes a general
one, is uttered with a rising tone, and is answered with yes or
no ; is he an Oxford or Cambridge man ' ? meaning really
' has he studied at Oxford or Cambridge — I do not care
which — as opposed to the University of London, the German
universities, etc/ As already remarked, alternative questions
require very definite answers ; thus in the example given, the
answer must be either Oxford or Cambridge. But there is a
class of alternative general questions, such as are you
§ 509-] SENTENCES. 175
ready, or are you not? uttered with a falling tone, which are,
however, answered in the same way as general questions ;
although, being emphatic, they generally receive an emphatic
answer— ^jw, I am ready, etc. In writing, all kinds of ques-
tions are marked by the note of interrogation (?).
506. (d) Imperative sentences are those which contain
a verb in the imperative mood, expressing hortation, by
which we understand any appeal to others by which we en-
deavour to influence their actions, especially entreaty, request,
and command, as in come I, you do it at once I, do come /, do
not do that I, do not you do that I Imperative sentences are
uttered with a falling tone. In writing they are generally
marked by the note of exclamation (!)
507. It must be understood that the above divisions are
grammatical, and therefore mainly formal. Thus, although
imperative sentences serve to express certain meanings, yet
we call a sentence 'imperative' primarily because it has a
certain form which distinguishes it from declarative etc. sen-
tences. And although imperative sentences are the most
convenient means we have of expressing hortation, we can
also express it by purely declarative sentences, such as / beg
you to come, I insist on your doing it at once.
508. The meaning of an imperative sentence may also be
expressed by a sentence in the general interrogative form,
such as will you be quiet l=-be quiet ! But as such sentences
are uttered with a falling tone — being accordingly written
with the note of exclamation — they are formally inter-
mediate between the two elates, and may therefore be called
imperative -interrogative sentences.
509. So also a declarative sentence may imply a question,
as in the doubtful you will soon be ready ', which has the rising
tone of a true question, and the more decided you will be
there at six, then\ which takes the answer yes for granted, and
is accordingly uttered with a falling tone.
1/6 INTRODUCTION. [§510
510. The above divisions apply to independent sentences.
For dependent declarative clauses (indirect narration) see
§297, and for dependent interrogative clauses (indirect in-
terrogation) see § 214.
HISTORY OF LANGUAGE.
Changes in Language.
611. The most important fact in the history of language is
that it is always changing. Words, parts of words — in-
flections, derivative elements, etc. — word-groups, and sentences
are always changing, both in form and meaning : the pronun-
ciation of words changes, and their meaning changes; in-
flections change both in form and meaning : word-groups
and sentences change their form in various ways — by altering
the order of their words, by changes of stress and intonation
— and are liable to change their meaning also, so that the
meaning of the word-group or sentence can no longer be
inferred from that of the words of which it is made up.
These changes are inevitable.
512. Sound-changes (phonetic changes, changes of pro-
nunciation) are inevitable, because all speech-sounds are the
result of certain definite actions or positions of the organs of
speech — tongue, lips, etc. ; and the slightest deviation from the
position which produces a sound alters that sound. Thus
the vowel-sound expressed by o in no is produced by drawing
back the tongue and narrowing the lip-opening ; and if we
draw back the tongue still more and raise it so as to make
the mouth-passage narrower, and at the same time narrow
the lip-opening by bringing the lips closer together, the sound
passes by degrees into the u in rule ; while if we open the
lips and widen the mouth-passage, the sound of o passes into
that of the a in father. Now in uttering a sound it is as
impossible always to hit exactly the same position of the
§513.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE : CHANGES.
organs of speech as it would be always to hit the mark
exactly in shooting with a bow or a gun. For this reason
children never reproduce exactly the sounds they learn by
imitation from their parents ; and even when this deviation is
so slight as to escape notice, it is liable to be increased in
after life by carelessness and laziness of pronunciation. But
the initial deviation is often so marked that it can be expressed
in writing, as when children in trying to imitate the sound of
(lp) in thin make it into (f). We call sound-changes due to
the tendencies of the organs of speech — such as the change
of (o) into (u) or (a) — organic sound-changes ; and we call
changes due to defective imitation — such as that of (\>) into
(f ) — imitative sound-changes. Organic and imitative sound-
changes are both the result of something in the sound itself,
and are therefore included under the common designation
internal sound- changes. External sound-changes, on the
other hand, have nothing to do with the nature of the sound
changed, but are the result of the influence of other words
associated in some way — generally by similarity of meaning
— with the words containing that sound, as in the change of
spake into spoke by the influence of spoken (539).
513. The meanings of words change because the mean-
ing of a word is always more or less vague, and we are always
extending or narrowing (generalizing or specializing) the
meanings of the words we use — often quite unconsciously.
Thus in the present English the meaning of the word morn-
ing has been extended so as to include what in Scotland is
still called the forenoon, the word morning originally denoting
the time of day just after sunrise ; but as the sun rises at
different times at different seasons of the year, the distinction
between morning and forenoon was always liable to be con-
fused. We have an example of narrowing the meaning of
a word in the modern English use of deer to signify one
special kind of wild animal, while in Old English the word —
in the form of deor — meant ' wild animal in general/ being
VOL. i. N
1 7 8 INTR OD UCTION. [§514.
applied to foxes, wolves, etc., as well as deer ; Shakespere
still uses the word in its older and more general meaning —
But mice, and rats, and such small deer
Have been Tom's food for seven long year. (King Lear.)
514. Of these processes, extension is the more important,
especially that kind of extension known as metaphor, by
which we use the name of a material object or an attribute to
express some more abstract idea suggested by the original
meaning of the word, as when we call a sly man a fox, or
say that the sun is the source of light and heat on the analogy
of source of a river, thus using the familiar word source to
express the more abstract idea "of ' cause ' or ' origin/ So
also when we speak of a bright idea or dark schemes. It
was mainly by the help of metaphor that primitive man was
able to enlarge his originally scanty stock of words so as to
find an expression for each new idea as it arose in his mind.
515. The use and meaning of inflections changes in the
same way. Thus the genitive case in Modern English has
not the same functions as in Old English. So also with
derivative elements, etc.
516. Linguistic changes often take the form of the loss of
sounds, sound-groups, parts of words, and complete words.
By phonetic change a sound may be so weakened as to
become almost inaudible, so that its dropping is almost in-
evitable. Sounds and syllables may be dropped because they
are superfluous — because the word is intelligible without them,
as when examination is shortened to exam. Words may drop
out of sentences for the same reason.
517. The addition of a sound is generally only apparent
when it is the result of organic change. Thus the change of
(nr) into (ndr) in Modern English thunder from Old English
Jyunor, genitive punres, is really a change of the second half
of the (n) into (d).
But sounds may be added to words, and words added to
sentences by external influences.
§519-] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE: CHANGES. 179
518. Most of these changes of form and meaning are
gradual in their operation — especially the internal sound-
changes—so that most of them are carried out uncon-
sciously by those who speak the language, and are therefore
beyond their control. The speakers of a language cannot
prevent it from changing; all they can do is to retard the
changes (532). These changes are the result of natural
tendencies of the organs of speech and of the human mind,
and are therefore to a great extent uniform in their opera-
tion. Thus if one child in a community says (fruu) instead
of through, we expect other children to do the same, because
if one child finds it easier to pronounce (f) than (f>), other
children will probably find it easier too. So also if one man
gets into the habit of using a word which originally meant
' wild animal ' in the sense of ' deer/ because deer are the
most important wild animals in the place where he lives, it is
natural to expect that most of his neighbours will get into
the same habit. Even when different changes of the same
sound, etc. are made by different speakers of the community,
one change will generally get the upper hand, either from
having the majority of speakers on its side, or because it is
more convenient or easier to carry out.
519. Each linguistic change is regular in its operation.
If the meaning of a word is changed in one sentence, we
expect to find it changed in all the other sentences in which
it occurs. So also if a sound is changed in one word, we
expect to find it changed in all other words. Thus, if we find
that a child learning to speak makes (f>) into (f ) in the words
think and three ^ we can assume with tolerable certainty that
it carries out the change in all the other words that contain
a (J?). If — as is generally the case — the change is the result
of inability to form the sound (f»), it is evident that it must be
carried out with no exception. But one sound-change may
be less general than another. One child may change all
(]?)'s into (f )'s, while another may pronounce such words as
N 2
l8o INTRODUCTION. [§520.
think and thing correctly, while substituting (f) in through
and three, that is, in the combination (fr). Again, a third
child might change th in think into one sound, and th in
through into a different sound, carrying out these changes in
all the words containing ()?). We see then that the same
sound may undergo different changes under different circum-
stances— different combinations with other sounds, different
positions in the word (initial, etc.) Thus, to take an exam-
ple from changes which have actually occurred in English,
we find that (k) has been dropped in the special combination
kn, as in know (nou), knowledge, but only when initial, the
old k being kept in such a word as acknowledge, where it is
preceded by a vowel.
520. It sometimes happens that the same word changes
in two or more different ways, according to its surroundings.
Thus in English the indefinite article an drops its n before
another word beginning with a consonant, as in a man
compared with an enemy. When a word splits up in this
way, the resulting forms are called doublets (54).
521. Stress has a great influence on sound-change, and
often gives rise to doublets. Thus in the Middle English of
Chaucer with and of were pronounced with final voiceless
consonants (wif>, of), but in the transition to Early Modern
English the final consonants of these words became voiced
when they were uttered with weak stress, the original sounds
being preserved when they were uttered with strong stress, so
that, for instance, with was pronounced (wiS) in such a sentence
as ' I will go with you, not with him/ and was pronounced
(wi}>) in such a sentence as * not with him, but against him.'
We call such pairs as (wif>, wio') stress-doublets. In the
case of an, a and of strong and weak with the differentiation
of form is not accompanied by any differentiation of meaning
and function, but in the case of Middle English of there has
been differentiation in both ways. In Old and Middle
English of was used in the sense of 'of and ' off/ but in
§522.] HISTOR Y OF LA NGUA GE : CHANGES. 1 8 1
Early Modern English the weak (ov) was gradually restricted
to the less emphatic meaning, while the more marked adver-
bial meaning was appropriated by the strong (of), which was
written off to distinguish it from the preposition of= (ov). In
the present English (of) has become (of), and the two
words — the adverb and the preposition — have diverged so
completely in form and meaning that the connection
between them is forgotten. In fact of itself has split up
into stress-doublets in the present English — the strong (ov)
and the weak (av, 9).
Such pairs as whole and hale — both from Old English hal
* complete, healthy' — are not organic doublets, but dialectal
doublets, whole being the regular Standard English descendant
of htil, while hale is an importation from the Northern dialect
of English, in which Old English a appears regularly as a,
instead of becoming 0, as in the standard dialect.
EFFECTS OF CHANGE ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN WORDS.
522. It is evident that when two or more words resemble
each other in form or meaning, or stand in any other
relation to one another, these relations are liable to be
modified by linguistic changes, which must further modify
them in the direction either of convergence or divergence.
If convergent changes are carried far enough, the result is
the levelling of distinctions between the words. Thus in
Modern English the two words no and know have been
brought closer and closer together by convergent sound-
change till at last they have been phonetically levelled under
the common form (nou). We call such phonetically levelled
pairs homonyms. Such homonyms as bear (the animal)
and to bear show levelling in spelling as well as sound.
Convergent change of meaning, if carried out as far as
possible — to the point of levelling — results in a synonym.
Thus to buy and to purchase are synonyms. Divergent
change is most noticeable in doublets. Thus we have
divergent sound-change in the Modern English of, off.
182 ' INTRODUCTION. [§523.
523. Linguistic changes have a great effect on
elation-groups (20). Convergent and divergent changes
have directly opposite effects. Convergent changes form
new association-groups, by bringing words into connection
with one another which originally had little or nothing in
common. Thus buy and purchase now form an association-
group of a very intimate kind through having exactly the
same meaning, but purchase originally meant ' to pursue/
and only gradually passed into its present meaning through
that of ' attain,' * acquire/ so that the two words were
originally quite disassociated from one another in meaning
as well as form.
524. Divergent changes tend to break up association-
groups and to isolate the members of a group from one
another. Thus in English words of foreign origin the
addition of a derivative element often causes shifting of
stress, as we see by comparing 'photograph, photographer,
photo' graphic, where the stress falls on a different syllable in
each word, so that a vowel which is strong in one word is
weak in another ; and as weak vowels are often weakened tu
(a) in English, the spoken forms of these words differ much
more than their written forms would lead us to expect:
(•foutagraef, fa-tografa, fouta-graefik). As the consonant
skeleton of these words remains unaltered together with
their meaning, the shifting stress and the great difference
in the vowels is not enough to break up the association-
group, but merely loosens the connection between its
members. In the case of of and off (521), where there
has been change not only of form but of meaning, the
association has been not only loosened, but completely
broken, so that the two words are isolated from one
another.
525. Isolation often leads to the creation of new gram-
matical categories. As we have seen (68), isolation is the
essence of composition as opposed to mere word-grouping.
§ 526.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE: CHANGES. 183
So also the distinction between an idiom and an ordinary
.' general ' sentence is that in the former the meaning of the
whole is isolated from that of its elements (448). The
development of proper names out of common nouns and
adjectives is also a process of isolation : when the nickname
or surname Brown or Smith was specially assigned to one
particular man in a community, although there were perhaps
other brown men and other smiths in it, isolation had begun ;
and when these appellations had become fixed family names,
being given to the descendants of these men without regard to
their complexion or trade, the isolation was complete as far
as the meaning was concerned, so that the proper names
Brown and Smith no longer had anything in common with
the words brown and smith except in form, being partially
isolated from them in form as well by the divergent use of
the article, etc. (148). The change of full-words into form-
words, the use of nouns and adjectives as particles, etc. all
go hand in hand with isolation. Thus the conjunction
because appears in Middle English in the form of the group
bl cause J>at * by the cause that,' ' through the cause that/
but in Modern English it has been completely isolated from
its elements by and cause not only by change of grammatical
function, but also by the weakening of bl into be and the
shortening of the vowel in the second syllable, formal iso-
lation being carried still further in the careless colloquial
pronunciation (koz).
526. Linguistic changes give rise to grammatical irregu-
larities. The two main classes of changes that produce
irregularities are convergent changes of meaning, and diver-
gent sound-changes. What we call an ' inflection ' often
consists of a number of different forms having distinct though
similar meanings, which gradually converged so that they
came to be identical in meaning and grammatical function.
Thus the original reduplication in the preterite held, the
vowel-change in saw, and the addition of d in called, all
184 INTRODUCTION. [§527.
express the same grammatical function, although there can
be no doubt that they each had a distinct meaning originally.
527. We can observe the effect of divergent sound-change
in the variations of the preterite-ending d in called, stopped
(stopt), and the accompanying vowel- and consonant-
changes in such preterites as kept, taught from keep, teach.
Here the original unity has been broken up by purely
phonetic changes.
EFFECTS OF CHANGE ON LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF
EXPRESSION.
528. We can see from what has been said that linguistic
changes have two opposite effects on language considered as
a means of expressing ideas. They have a constructive
and a destructive effect : sometimes they help to build up
the language, and make it better fitted to express ideas;
sometimes, on the other hand, they tend to break up its
structure, and make it unfit for the expression of ideas.
529. It is evident that many of the changes we have been
considering are mainly constructive. Thus the differentiation
of Old English of into the Modern English doublets of and
off enables us to express two distinct sets of ideas by distinct
words instead of having only one word for both. The lan-
guage has therefore gained in precision by such a change.
So also such a process of isolation as that by which we are
able to introduce a causal sentence by means of the mono-
syllable (koz) instead of the cumbrous word-group by the cause
that has not only made the language more precise but has
also made it more concise.
530. But it is equally evident that many changes result
only in the multiplication of superfluous distinctions. Thus
the distinction between strong (wij?) and weak (wiS) is a
superfluous one, for the sentence-stress by itself is enough to
tell us whether the word is emphatic or not. The distinction
between a and an is equally superfluous. In fact doublets
§531-1 HISTORY OF LANGUAGE : CHANGES. 185
are always superfluous, except when they develop useful dis-
tinctions of meaning, which, in the nature of things, they do
only occasionally. When convergent changes result in the
formation of synonyms, such as begin, commence, they evidently
make one member of the pair superfluous. So also of the
various ways of forming the plural in English, all except one
— that is, of course, the regular ending s — are superfluous.
531. Many changes are not only superfluous but injurious.
The formation of homonyms, such as a bear, to bear, although
not positively destructive, always tends to make the language
ambiguous. And although change of meaning — especially
metaphor — is an essential factor in building up the vocabulary
of a language, yet the great variety of often almost contradic-
tory meanings which may be thereby developed in the same
word often tend to obscure clearness of expression. Among
purely destructive changes, the most important are those
which affect inflectional elements. When inflections consist
— as they often do — mainly of final weak vowels, they are
peculiarly liable to be shortened, obscured, and finally
dropped altogether. Thus in the popular Latin of the
Empire weak inflectional endings soon began to shorten their
vowels and drop their final consonants, so that, for instance,
the nominative singular mensa « table/ the accusative mensam,
and the ablative mensd were levelled under the common form
mesa, the distinction between nominative dominus ' lord ' and
accusative dominum, between accusative, dative, genitive,
ablative hominem 'man/ homirii, hominis, homine were by
degrees entirely lost, the inevitable consequence being that
the feeling for the grammatical distinctions of case was first
weakened, and then lost, so that even those case-endings
which from their greater fullness — such as the genitive plural
ending in mensarum, dommorum — were less liable to phonetic
decay, were also discarded, so that in Italian the nouns have
entirely lost the old case-inflections.
1 86 INTRODUCTION. [§532.
Logical Control of Changes.
532. Now although the speakers of a language have no
power of absolutely preventing changes in it. — for we have no
evidence of a language ever having been preserved absolutely
unchanged even for a few centuries — yet they have consider-
able control over it. In the first place, they can resist
change, and retard it. When parents correct the mispronun-
ciations of their children, and when boys at school ridicule
the pronunciations and expressions of those boys who do not
conform to the pronunciations and expressions of the ma-
jority, they are all doing their best to prevent change. In fact,
if they did not, the languages of two successive generations
would become mutually unintelligible. Hence every genera-
tion can tolerate only a certain amount of change, so that if
a language changes much in one direction, it has to make up
for it by being conservative in another direction. Thus
English obscures and shortens its vowels, but is on the whole
very conservative in its consonants. Modern French, on the
other hand, drops consonants freely, as we see by comparing
Modern French bete with Old French beste, whi^h was imported
into Middle English, and still keeps its consonants unimpaired
in the Modern English beast, although the vowel has under-
gone considerable changes. Again, in Modem French many
of the Old French final consonants which are preserved in
writing are not pronounced, as in mats (me). Now the
tendency to drop final consonants is as natural to English
people as to French, but as consonant-dropping and vowel-
weakening together would have made English unintelligible
and unfit for the communication of ideas, it was necessary to
check one or other of these changes. From a variety of
complicated causes it was found more necessary to check
consonant-weakening than vowel-weakening in English.
Whether the attempt to arrest a certain change is successful
§535.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE: CHANGES. 187
or not depends, of course, partly on the ease with which it is
controlled. Thus the change of (]>) into (f ) is easily observed
and easily corrected, so although it is begun by thousands of
children in every generation, it has never been able to get a
permanent footing, while other changes which were less easy
of control have established themselves firmly, some of which
have been more injurious than that of (J?) into (f) would
have been.
533. The speakers of a language always have the power
of discarding superfluous forms, especially one of a pair of
synonyms and doublets. Hence English has now got rid of
the superfluous distinction between (witS) and (wif>) by simply
discarding the latter form.
Ellipse.
534. When a language drops words in groups and sen-
tences because these words are not absolutely required to
make sense, we have the phenomenon of ellipse (111). We
must distinguish between logical and historical ellipse.
Logical ellipse implies only that some word is wanting to
complete the grammatical construction, as in at my uncles.
Historical ellipse implies that a 'word is missing which at
an earlier period of the language actually formed part of the
sentence, and it does not matter whether the missing word is
grammatically necessary or superfluous. In the example just
given the ellipse is historical as well as grammatical. But in
such a phrase as go to sea compared with go down to the river,
there is no historical ellipse, because such phrases were framed
at a period when there was no definite article at all in English,
and a few of them becoming isolated from the rest, were able
to resist the introduction of the article and so have kept the
shorter form to the present day.
Analogy.
535. The main factor in getting rid of irregularities is
group- influence, or analogy — the influence exercised by
l88 INTRODUCTION. [§ 535.
the members of an association-group on one another. We
have already seen (23) that irregularity consists in partial
isolation from an association-group through some formal
difference. Thus the irregular plurals men etc. belong to the
same group as the regular plurals trees etc., but stand outside
it to some extent through not having the same ending. The
irregularity and isolation of such plurals as men is the more
conspicuous because of the small number of irregular plurals
in English, and the overwhelmingly large number of nouns
that have their plural in -s. This preponderance of the
j-plurals is itself the result of group-influence. In Old English
there were a variety of regular noun-plurals, and the ending
-as, from which the Modern English -(e)s is descended, was
only one of several endings, all of which were added to a
considerable number of nouns, the ending -as itself being
confined to certain masculine nouns, such as stan 'stone/
plural stanas. Other plural endings in frequent use were -a,
-u, -an. Many neuter nouns were unchanged in the plural,
and we still preserve this formation in sheep. In Middle
English the distinctions of grammatical gender were soon
lost, and as it was found inconvenient not to distinguish
between singular and plural, such neuter nouns as hits
' house ' instead of remaining unchanged in the plural were
allowed to take the ending -£r=Old English -as of the cor-
responding masculine nouns, whence the Modern English
plural houses =Old English hits', and this ending was by
degrees extended to all nouns except a few such as man, ox,
so that the ending -en in oxen=O\d English ox an, instead
of being on an equal footing with the ending -es, as it origin-
ally was, came to be an isolated — that is, an irregular —
inflection. The change therefore of such an Old English
plural as naman (singular nama) into the Modern English
names is not a phonetic change of n into s — which would
be impossible — but is an external, analogical change due to
the influence of the Old English inflection in s/anas etc.
§538-1 HISTORY OF LANGUAGE: CHANGES. 189
536. Which form in an association-group gets the upper
hand in cases of analogy, depends partly on its natural pre-
ponderance in the group, partly on its efficiency as a means
of expression. A form may preponderate either by being
used in the greatest number of words, or by being used in
those words which are in most frequent use, so that a form
which is used in a comparatively small number of very impor-
tant words may preponderate over one which is used in a
greater number of words. The efficiency of a form depends
partly on its phonetic distinctness — a hissing consonant such
as s being, for instance, preferable to an obscure vowel —
partly on its logical distinctness, that is, its freedom from
ambiguity and liability to be confused with other forms.
From this point of view the English plural -s is objectionable,
because it has the same form as the genitive singular (man's).
537. Analogy is not only an instrument of change, but is
a part of the daily life of language. In speaking a language
we learn only a few of the grammatically modified words
ready-made ; all the others we form on the pattern of those
already learnt. Thus when we first have to speak of an un-
familiar animal, such as a zebra, in the plural, we do not stop
to think whether we have heard the word used in the plural
before, but we form a plural zebras without hesitation on the
pattern of such familiar plurals as horses, donkeys, etc.
538. Now it is evident that this method of inflecting or other-
wise modifying words by pattern or analogy may lead us into
mistakes when we have to deal with irregularities which are
not in very frequent use. Thus an uneducated speaker who
had to form the plural of fungus would naturally make it
*funguses on the analogy of mushrooms, mosses, etc., instead of
fungi. But if an irregular form is so frequent in the language
that we not only learn it ready-made, but hear and repeat it
incessantly, it fixes itself so firmly in the memory that we
have no occasion to form it by pattern, and it remains un-
affected by the influence of the regular forms. Tims we are
190 INTRODUCTION. [§ 539.
so used to such an irregular plural as men that it is only by an
effort that we could make it into *mans. But if by any
chance such a word became rare or partially obsolete, it
would certainly and inevitably take the plural -s, at least in
the vulgar and colloquial language. This is why in all lan-
guages—at least in their natural colloquial form — the irregu-
larities always occur in the commonest words, irregular forms
of rarer words being confined to the higher literary language.
539. No one would mistake the change of n into s in the
plural names =Old English naman for an organic sound-
change, but would at once recognize it as an analogical, ex-
ternal change. In some cases, however, analogical sound-
change might be mistaken for internal — organic or imitative
— sound-change by anyone who was not acquainted with the
internal sound-changes of the language in question. Thus
the change of a into o in spoke— ti\t earlier spake, broke =
brake, etc., although at first sight it looks like an organic
sound-change — the organic change of a into o being frequent
in many languages — is in Modern English confined entirely to
these verb-preterites, there being no such change in take,
name, etc. This change is not only confined to preterites of
verbs, but is further confined to those verbs which have o in
their preterite participles, so there can be no doubt that the
change of spake into spoke is the result of the influence of the
preterite participle spoken, through the similarity in meaning
between he spake and he has spoken.
540. In the cases we have hitherto been considering, the
analogy is logical, that is, associations of meaning or gram-
matical function lead to the change of a sound into another
one which may be totally different. But there is also a
purely formal or phonetic analogy, by which the meaning
of a word is modified by that of another word because the
latter is similar in form to the other. Thus the word parboil
was originally formed by prefixing per- ' through/ so that it
originally meant ' to boil thoroughly.' But now the meaning
§543-1 HISTORY OF LANGUAGE: CHANGES. 191
of the prefix has been forgotten through its change of form,
and it has been associated with the noun part, so that the
word has now taken the exactly opposite meaning of ' boil
imperfectly.'
541. We can also see phonetic analogy in the familiariza-
tion of unfamiliar words, commonly known as 'popular
etymology/ as in the change of asparagus into sparrow-grass 'f <*^yj
— a form which, though now vulgar, was in general use in
the last century. Familiarization consists simply in substi-
tuting familiar for unfamiliar sounds or syllables, without
regard to the meaning, although the process is often helped
by some chance coincidence, as in the present example,
where the fact of asparagus being a vegetable has helped to
fix the change of the unfamiliar gus into the familiar and
significant grass.
542. Although analogy works most vigorously when a few
forms are brought under the influence of a large association-
group, or one which contains words in very frequent use, yet
— as we see from the examples just given of phonetic
analogy — it can also work in groups of only two words.
When the groups are so small, it often happens that the
forms or words influence each other partially and mutually,
instead of one only being influenced, the result being a
blending.
The effect of blending on grammatical constructions has been
already treated of (125).
543. Analogy not only helps to get rid of irregularities,
but helps also to bring grammatical categories into harmony
with the logical ones (26). In primitive languages they are
generally in harmony, but in more advanced languages they
frequently disagree, as in the contrast of grammatical to
natural gender (146). Thus in Old English and in German
words denoting young children and young of animals are
neuter. Hence also diminutive words were made neuter,
such as Old English magd-en, German mad-chen, which origi-
INTRODUCTION. [§544.
nally meant * little maid/ ' little girl/ but afterwards came to
be applied to full-grown women, still having their neuter
gender, though it had become unmeaning. But in both
languages such words came to be referred to as ' she ' as
well as ' it ' on the analogy of other words which were gram-
matically feminine and also denoted female beings. German
has not gone any further than this : although in German
mddchen is referred to as ' she/ it always takes a neuter
article and adjective. But in Middle English we find such
grammatical neuters as meiden ' girl ' and wif ' woman ' made
into regular feminine nouns.
Origin and Development of Language.
544. Language begins with associations between sounds
and ideas. These associations may be of various kinds. The
most obvious kind is that seen in imitative words, such as
cuckoo, buzz, hiss. We have another kind of association in
symbolical words, such as the Latin btbere * to drink/ where
the lip-consonant b symbolizes the action of the lips in drink-
ing. We have also interjectional words, such as the Old
English feond « enemy ' — whence the Modern English fiend —
which was originally formed from an interjection of dislike
similar to pah ! or fie ! So also the pronoun me and the
words mamma, mother, all seem to be made up with the con-
sonant m because it is easiest, and the one first uttered by
infants. But there is so little natural connection or resem-
blance between sounds and ideas that we may be sure that
when language first arose, the names given to things, attri-
butes, etc., often had very little connection with what they
meant, and that the connection was often almost a matter of
chance. But there must always have been some connection
— some association.
545. At first each sound or sound-group expressed rather
a thought than an idea. Thus when men first said cuckoo !
§ 548.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. 193
in order to communicate an idea to other men, they meant to
express some such thought as ' there is the cuckoo or ' I
hear the cuckoo/ If the speaker pointed somewhere at the
same time, it meant, of course, ' there is the cuckoo/ There
can be no doubt that primitive speech was thus partly made
up of gesture. Such a sound-group as cuckoo was, therefore,
not a true word, but something between a word and a sen-
tence— a kind of sentence-word.
646. When people began to join such a significant sound-
group as cuckoo to other significant sound-groups — as, for
instance, to a sound-group meaning ' sing ' or < song ' — so
that the meaning of the one might be taken in connection
with that of the other — so that, for instance, cuckoo sing or
cuckoo song meant * the cuckoo sings ' or ' the cuckoo sang/
then cuckoo, etc., instead of being sentences, came to be parts
of sentences or words.
547. Language thus arose spontaneously in individuals
through the habit of associating sounds with ideas through
mimicry, etc. This was done at first merely for amusement :
the idea of using these sounds to communicate wishes, infor-
mation, etc., to others was an after-thought. This after-
thought was the result of community of impression among
different individuals : the sound-group cuckoo naturally sug-
gested the idea of the bird that makes the sound to all who
were familiar with it.
548. Of course, when the connection was fanciful, or
vague — as if, for instance, htss were used to signify not only
' hiss,' but also ' serpent,' * cat/ and ' steam ' — it became
necessary to make it more definite ; and this could only be
done by a number of individuals constantly meeting together
and settling definitely what meaning to give to each sound-
group. Of course this process of selection came about of
itself, unconsciously, and was not the result of deliberate
choice and consultation, which would, indeed, have been
impossible at a time when language was not yet evolved,
VOL. i. o
194 INTRODUCTION. [§549-
549. When language had reached this stage, the con-
nection between words and the ideas they expressed was no
longer self-evident, except in a few cases, and the details of
the language had to be learnt one by one by the infants of
the community and by strangers.
550. Language thus begins spontaneously in the individual,
but is developed and preserved by the community.
DEVELOPMENT OF GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES.
551. As we have seen, language implies the power of
joining words together into sentences, just as ideas are joined
together to form thoughts (16).
552. At first words were joined together without any
definite order — it did not matter whether people said cuckoo
sing or sing cuckoo ; in other words, the sentence had no form.
553. After a while people began to put the words in sen-
tences in a more definite order. Even before the logical
significance of word-order had dawned on their minds, some
sentences which had become familiar by incessant repetition
would naturally settle down to a fixed word-order ; and when
this had been carried out in a number of separate sentences,
some general principle of word-order could not fail to be
evolved. There are various principles of word-order. The
natural logical word-order is to put the subject first and the
adjunct-word after it, so that, for instance, cuckoo song or
cuckoo sing would mean ' the cuckoo sings ' or ' the singing
cuckoo,' and sing (or song) cuckoo would mean * the song (or
singing) of the cuckoo/
554. But there are other principles of word- order, which
sometimes contradict this purely logical order. Emphatic
word-order consists in putting first that word which is most
prominent in the speaker's mind. Thus in such a sen-
tence as that man is a good man or he is a good man, it
is evident that good is a more important word than the
accompanying man, because the idea expressed by the
§ 556.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. 195
latter word has been already expressed by that man or he.
Hence many languages which generally put an assumptive
adjective after its noun often put the adjective first when it is
emphatic. It is evident that in a language which admits
emphatic word-order, the same sentence may appear in a
variety of forms, as far as the order of its words is concerned.
Even such a simple sentence as the cat caught a mouse or the
cat killed a mouse may admit of a variety of natural word-
orders. If the speaker sees, or thinks of, the mouse coming
out of its hole and running about before the cat appears, the
natural order is mouse cat catch ; if he sees a dead mouse and
the cat running away, the natural order is mouse kill cat, which
we express more accurately by the passive construction a
mouse has been killed by the cat. We need not therefore be
surprised to find that different languages have different prin-
ciples of word-order.
555. But whatever the word-order of each primitive lan-
guage may have been, it must at first have been a fixed one,
for not only is a fixed word-order necessary in an unin-
flected language— as we see by comparing the comparatively
fixed word-order of English with the free word-order of Latin
— but without fixed word-order inflections could never have de-
veloped themselves. And not only inflection, but composition,
derivation, the development of form-words, are all the result of
fixed word-order, aided, as we shall see, by differences of stress.
556. Primitive language consisted, then, of series of full-
words in fixed orders. At first sentences were formed with
an effort, each word being uttered with strong stress and
followed by a slight pause — just as we are still apt to speak a
foreign language. In time, however, certain combinations
which occurred frequently were run over more rapidly, and
joined together without any pause. In this way logical word-
groups were formed, such as big man or man fag, little man,
old brother, young brother, sharp stone =c flint,' yellow stone=
' gold,' white stone=l silver/ etc. Then words forming part
o 2
196 INTRODUCTION. [§ 557.
of such groups which were felt to be subordinate to the
other word or words, came to be uttered with diminished
stress, so that a distinction could be made, for instance, be-
tween 'me 'here-=.l\ am here,' and 'man -fare='the man
here ' or ' this man.' In this way logical groups developed
into formal stress-groups, the diminished stress of subordinate
words serving not only to show that they were logically sub-
ordinate, but also to bind the two members of the group
together and mark them off from the other words and word-
groups in the sentence. When this formal isolation was
accompanied by isolation of meaning, these groups developed
into compounds, so that it was now possible to make such
distinctions as that between black bird and blackbird in
English.
557. It is evident that of the words thus subordinated in
stress and meaning some would be in more general use than
others. Such an adjective as white would be specially sub-
ordinated to but few substance-words ; but such an adjunct
as here or this would be connected with almost all such
words. All primitive languages show a great variety of such
demonstrative words, whose meanings become more and
more definite and fixed as the language develops. When a
word which originally pointed to an object in space came to
be used as a mere reference-word, so that, for instance, man-
here meant simply ' the man/ it became a form-word. So
also when some such distinction was made as between
top M/='the top of the hill' and hill-top =' on. the hill,' top
in the latter collocation was on its way to become a mere
form-word— in this case, a preposition — and if the full-word
top became obsolete through being supplanted by a different
word of similar meaning, such as summit, the isolation of the
form-word would be complete.
558. When a word is always subordinated to other words
both in meaning and stress, it is natural to slur it over, and
obscure its sound in various ways. Such obscurations of
§559-1 HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. 197
subordinate words as we can observe in the English
hia, dsonl kBm, hijl k^m) —John is here, John will come,
he will come, have occurred in all primitive languages.
559. If a form-word is obscured so much that it becomes
an inseparable part of the word it modifies, and is at the same
time isolated from the full-word of which it is a weakening,
it ceases to be a word, and becomes part of a word ; and if
it forms part of a number of words, so as to be easily recog-
nized as a general modifier, it becomes either a derivative or
an inflectional element. If it makes the words it modifies
into new words — as when in English the addition of (-man)
to shop makes it into the new word shopman — it is a deriva-
tive, or at least a composition-element on its way to become
a derivative ; if it leaves the special meaning of the words it
modifies unaltered, and merely adds some general qualification,
and shows that they stand in certain grammatical relations
to other words in the sentence, it is an inflection. Mere
obscuration without isolation is jiot enough to constitute a
derivative or inflection. Thus the (1) in (hijl)=fo ivill, does
not constitute an inflection, because it is added indifferently
to all words, and because we can change the unemphatic
(hijl) into the emphatic (hij wil), and so break up the con-
nection between the two words and restore the original full
form of the (1). (-man) in shopman, on the other hand,
though only a weakening of the full word (maen), cannot be
used anywhere in a sentence as the unemphatic form of man,
and is inseparably connected with the word it modifies. We
can see how form-words develop into true inflections in
the French future aimerai, ' I shall love/ which comes from
the late Latin amare haled, ' I have to love/ We can still
divide aimerai into the French words aimer ai, ' to-love
(I) have/ but the plural aimerons, ' we shall love/ is isolated
from aimer and avons, ' we have.' Aimerai itself is really
isolated, though to a less degree ; for * aimer ai is as im-
possible a construction in French as */o love have would be
198 INTRODUCTION. [§560.
in English. The English (nt) in wont, shan't may be re-
garded as on the way to become an inflectional element, for
it is isolated from the full form not grammatically as well as
phonetically, for this contraction never occurs except after
certain verbs, which are themselves isolated in the con-
tracted form, as in (wount) compared with (wil not) will
not.
ORIGIN OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
560. It is evident that the relations between full-words in
sentences are dependent to some extent on the meaning of
the full words. Thus in a primitive language there would
be a tendency to use substance-words, such as tree, man,
snow, and personal pronouns, such as /, he, mainly as subject-
words, and to use permanent attribute-words, such as white,
big, assumptively in connection with the above substance-
words, as in distinguishing between the big man and the little
man.
561. These permanent attribute-words would not be used
much as predicates because the whiteness of snow, etc. would
be taken for granted, and not require to be stated expressly.
The words most frequently used as predicates would be
phenomenon-words, such as fall, melt, come, which cannot
so easily be taken for granted in connection with their head-
words, and must therefore be stated expressly.
562. Substance-words and phenomenon-words would
therefore have different positions in the sentence, and by
degrees different form-words would cluster round them.
Substance-words would be naturally modified by words ex-
pressing distinctions of place and number; thus the idea
of ' tree ' would excite the ideas of ' one tree/ ' more than
one tree/ ' by the tree/ ' behind the tree/ etc. Phenomenon-
words, on the other hand, would not require these modifiers,
but would be modified by other words expressing distinctions
of time and other accompaniments of phenomena ; thus the
§ 566.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. 199
idea ' come ' would excite the idea of ' come in the past/
' come in the future/ etc.
563. But the necessity of using permanent attribute-
words, and qualifiers, such as here, there, as predicates, would
be very soon felt ; it would soon be necessary — or, at least,
convenient — to distinguish between the man here and the man
is here ; and after a time it would even be desirable to distin-
guish between melting snow and the snow melts. Some lan-
guages began by making the distinction entirely by means of
position. Thus in Chinese green tree means ' a green tree ' or
1 the green tree/ and tree green means ' the tree is green/ etc.
564. Many primitive languages marked the predicate
formally by joining on to it a personal pronoun, ' the cuckoo
sings ' being expressed by cuckoo song -him, cuckoo its-song,
or something equivalent. This clumsy device is found in
languages all over the world. We can still see the primitive
first person pronoun in the English a-?n, which originally
meant ' existence of-me ' or * my being/
565. Such a thought as ' the tree is green ' could be
expressed similarly by the tree its-green(ness}, but such a
thought as 'the man is there' would be more naturally
expressed by a construction equivalent to the man stands
there or the man stays there. So also ' the tree is green '
could be expressed by the tree grows green. In course of
time some of the verbs used in this way lost all independent
meaning and became pure link-verbs. We can easily see
how this happens by thinking of such Modern English
phrases as he stood convicted, to rest content, etc., where stood
does not imply standing or rest resting, these verbs being
equivalent to was and to be. We need not therefore be
surprised to find that ivas itself originally meant ' dwelt ' or
1 remained/ and that be originally meant ' grow.'
566. In this way verbs that were originally phenomenon-
words came to have the purely grammatical function of pre-
dication. So also form- words or inflections which marked
200 INTRODUCTION.
original substance-words gradually came to suggest the gram-
matical conception of ' subject- word ' ; and when it became
necessary to make statements about attributes or phenomena —
to make statements about ' whiteness,' 'falling/etc. — the formal
marks which at first belonged only to substance-words were
transferred to abstract words, so that the inflections and other
formal characteristics of such words as tree no longer neces-
sarily marked them off as substance-words, but only denoted
those grammatical functions which we conveniently sum up
by calling tree a * noun ' — functions which it has in common
with many purely abstract words, such as whiteness and
falling.
567. The further development of the parts of speech is
the result of the various processes of sound-change, change
of meaning and grammatical function, differentiation, isola-
tion, analogy, etc., which have been already described. Thus
analogy brought about concord (91), by which declinable
adjectives are distinguished from indeclinable adverbs ;
sound-change and isolation made nouns and adjectives into
particles.
Relations of Languages to one another.
568. It is evident from what has been said about the
origin of language that wherever human beings are gathered
together in a community, however small, there was a proba-
bility of that community developing a language of its own.
Hence, as the number of such communities must have been
indefinitely great in the early periods of man's history, there
must have been an indefinite number of separate, uncon-
nected languages. But as civilization increased, and it be-
came necessary to use single languages over wider areas, an
immense number of languages spoken only by small and
obscure communities became extinct — a process which we
can observe going on still.
569. The difference between languages is not always the
§571-1 HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. 2O1
result of differences of origin. On the contrary, almost every
language bears a more or less close resemblance to certain
other languages — a resemblance which cannot be explained
except on the supposition that all these languages are modifi-
cations of one and the same language. We call such lan-
guages cognate languages, belonging to the same family of
languages, and descended from a common parent language.
Thus English, Latin, and Greek are cognate languages be-
longing to the Arian family, and descended from Parent
Arian. We have no direct records of this parent language,
and can only reconstruct it hypothetically by comparing its
extant descendants together, and so finding out what original
features of the parent language are preserved in them. In other
cases, however, the parent language has been preserved —
though, of course, only in a * dead/ written form — so that we
do not require to construct it hypothetically. Thus French,
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese are all Romance languages,
descended from Latin in its spoken form.
Linguistic Separation : Origin of Dialects and
Cognate Languages.
570. The unity of a language can be kept up only by free
and uniform intercourse between all the members of the
community which speaks the language. If the community
is too large or unwieldy to admit of this intercourse, the
language begins to split up into an infinite number of dialects,
each dialect differing but slightly from the dialect nearest to
it, but differing considerably— in course of time — from those
farthest away from it.
571. If a dialect or group of dialects which has arisen in
this way is separated by natural boundaries, such as a river
or mountain-chain, from the other dialects, or by a different
government, or if communication is checked in any other
way, there will be a corresponding linguistic divergence : the
2,02, INTRODUCTION. [$ 573.
dialects thus cut off from the rest will diverge rapidly and
develop many features of their own.
572. But when a nation thus speaking a variety of dialects
attains a high degree of civilization, that unity and centraliza-
tion which results in one town becoming the capital, results
also in one definite dialect — generally, of course, that of the
capital itself — being used as the general means of communi-
cation throughout the whole territory, especially if, as is gener-
ally the case, the dialects have already diverged so much from
each other that some at least of them are mutually unintelligible.
573. If this centralization goes on long enough, this
common or standard dialect swallows up the local dialects,
although before that happens it is generally considerably in-
fluenced by them, every standard dialect importing a certain
number of words from its cognate dialects. Thus in modern
English we find the dialectal hale by the side of the standard
whole (521. i).
574. There is no definite distinction between dialect
and language. Dialects develop into languages by further
divergent changes, so that a group of dialects becomes a
family of cognate languages. When we describe two or more
forms of speech as ' distinct but cognate languages/ we
generally imply that they are mutually unintelligible and that
they are spoken by distinct nationalities.
575. Uniformity of intercourse between the speakers of a
language may be checked in various ways besides separation
in space. Even in only moderately civilized communities
class separation leads to the distinction between aristocratic,
refined, or educated speech on the one hand, and vulgar
speech on the other. So also each trade, profession, coterie,
etc. tends to develop its own technical language or slang.
We may call these non-local dialects the strata of language.
576. Again, religion and literature tend to keep up words,
grammatical forms, and expressions that have ceased to be
part of the language of everyday life. Hence we get sacred
§57^.] HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. 203
or liturgical strata, such as the language of the English
Prayer-book, and various literary strata. For in literature
itself we must distinguish between the language of poetry
and of prose, and again, between the higher and the lower
prose, the latter approaching most to the spoken language.
Hence also we make a distinction between the literary and
the spoken or colloquial language. Although this distinction
is not dependent on writing — being found in the languages
of illiterate savages — yet the preservation of an archaic
literary language is greatly helped by its being at the same
time a written language.
577. It is important to observe that the literary language
is always colloquial in its origin : all literary forms which
differ from the contemporary spoken language are really
fossilized colloquialisms of an earlier period. Thus such
forms as thou hast, he hath, which are now used only in the
liturgical and poetical strata, were once in common colloquial
use. Literary languages are therefore to some extent ana-
chronisms, being a mixture of the contemporary spoken lan-
guage with the spoken languages of earlier periods. For this
reason the study of a language should always be based — as
far as possible — on the spoken language of the period which
is being dealt with.
Influence of one language on another.
578. Not only dialects influence each other, but also dis-
tinct languages, whether cognate or not, the degree of influence
depending entirely on the intimacy of intercourse between the
speakers of the two languages. There is, indeed, no limit
to the mixture of languages in sounds, inflections, and
grammar generally, as well as in vocabulary. But a very
strong influence of one language on another generally ends
in the complete extinction of the weaker one, so that a great
many of these strongly mixed languages have perished with-
out leaving any permanent record.
264 INTRODUCTION. [§ 579.
DIVISIONS AND METHODS OF GRAMMAR.
579. We have seen (2) that a grammar may be either
descriptive or explanatory, the latter falling under the
heads of historical, comparative, and general grammar.
580. It is evident that all study of grammar must begin
with being purely descriptive. Thus it is no use attempting
to study the history of inflections in different periods of a
language or in a group of cognate languages, if we have not
previously got a clear idea of what inflections really are ; and
it is neither profitable nor interesting to compare languages
or periods of languages of which we have no practical de-
scriptive knowledge. Nor can we enter on the study of general
grammar till we have learnt to analyse at least one special
language grammatically.
ACCIDENCE AND SYNTAX.
581. The business of grammar is to state and explain
those relations between forms and meanings which can be
brought under general rules (18). Theoretically speaking,
these two — form and meaning — are inseparable, and in a
perfect language they would be so ; but in languages as they
actually are, form is never in complete harmony with mean-
ing— there is always a divergence between the two (26).
This divergence makes it not only possible, but desirable, to
treat form and meaning separately — at least, to some extent.
That part of grammar which concerns itself specially with
forms, and ignores their meaning as much as possible, is
called accidence. That part of grammar which ignores
distinctions of form as much as possible, and concentrates
itself on their meaning, is called syntax. Thus an English
grammar in dealing with the plurals of nouns would under
accidence state briefly the meaning of plural-inflections in
§ 582.] DIVISIONS OF GRAMMAR. 205
general, but would give this information solely in order to
identify them — so as, for instance, to distinguish between the
plural trees, the genitive Johns, and the verb-inflection in
comes. Having once given this information, accidence does
not concern itself further with the shades of meaning ex-
pressed by the plural-inflection of nouns, but, on the other
hand, carefully describes all the details of its form — how
some nouns take final s, while others add -en, etc. Syntax,
on the other hand, ignores such formal distinctions as
those between the plurals trees, oxen, etc., or rather takes
for granted that the student is acquainted with them, and
considers only the different meanings and grammatical func-
tions of noun-plurals in general, especially as opposed to the
singular. The business of syntax is, therefore, to explain the
meaning and function of grammatical forms, especially the
various ways in which words are joined together in sentences.
In some grammars syntax is regarded entirely from the
latter point of view, so that it is identified with the analysis
of sentences, the meaning of grammatical forms being included
under accidence. Although this is narrowing the scope of
syntax too much, it is no doubt sometimes most convenient to
treat of the meaning of grammatical forms under accidence,
especially when the variations of meaning are either very slight,
or else so great that they cannot be brought under general
rules.
582. Syntax may be studied from two points of view. We
can either start from the grammatical forms, and explain
their uses, as when we describe the meanings and functions
of the genitive case or the subjunctive mood ; or we may
take a grammatical category, and describe the different forms
by which it is expressed, as when we give an account of the
different ways in which predication is expressed — by a single
verb, by the verb to be with an adjective or noun-word, etc.
We distinguish these as formal and logical syntax respec-
tively. It is evident that the first business of syntax is to deal
with the phenomena of language formally, reserving logical
206 INTRODUCTION. [§ 583.
statements — which are often very useful and instructive — till
all the grammatical forms of the language have had their
functions explained. It is evident that logical syntax belongs
more to general grammar than to the special grammar of one
language.
GRAMMAR AND DICTIONARY.
583. We have seen (18) that the grammar is distinguished
from the dictionary by dealing mainly with those phenomena
of language which can be brought under general rules, while
the dictionary deals with isolated phenomena. On this
principle it is easy to see that such phenomena as word-order
must belong exclusively to the grammar, while such isolated
phenomena as the meanings of primary full-words must
belong as exclusively to the dictionary. It is also easy to see
that inflections belong to the grammar. In fact, the grammar
of such a highly inflected language as Latin consists mainly
of a description of the forms and functions of inflections, and
the ways in which they join words together in sentences.
584. But when a language makes an extensive use of
form-words, many difficulties arise ; for the distinction between
form-word and full-word is often uncertain and fluctuating.
Even in dealing with Latin it is a question whether or not
prepositions should be included in the grammar; but as in
Latin the prepositions are only a kind of auxiliaries to the
cases, the treatment of prepositions is regarded rather as an
appendix to the grammar than as an integral part of it. In
English, on the other hand, the prepositions play so impor-
tant a grammatical part that they are really of more weight
than the scanty remains of case-inflection, so that they can
no more be excluded from English grammar than such peri-
phrastic verb-forms as miratus est ' he wondered/ compared
with v'idit ' he saw/ can be excluded from Latin grammar.
But the number of prepositions and other form-words is so
great, and their meanings are so various, that in a grammar
§ 587.] DIVISIONS OF GRAMMAR. 207
of limited length it is necessary to select a part of the facts,
and omit details which do not bear directly on grammatical
questions.
585. Nor is historical grammar concerned with the ety-
mologies of isolated words, for which it refers the student
to an et} mological dictionary.
DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL GRAMMAR.
586. In studying grammar it is important to keep the
descriptive and the historical view apart. The first object in
studying grammar is to learn to observe linguistic facts as
they are, not as they ought to be, or as they were in an
earlier stage of the language. When the historical view of
language gets the upper hand, it is apt to degenerate into
one-sided antiquarian philology, which regards living lan-
guages merely as stepping-stones to earlier periods, and
studies a family of languages solely in order to reconstruct
their parent language, ignoring as much as possible the
characteristic independent developments in the separate
languages.
587. The first thing in studying a language is to learn to
look at its phenomena from the point of view of the speakers
of the language — to understand what is called ' the genius of
the language,' that is, the general principles on which its
grammatical .categories are unconsciously framed by the
speakers of the language. In every language the feeling for
certain logical and grammatical categories is more highly
developed than for others. Thus English has no forms to
express clearly (except in a few special cases) the distinction
between fact-statements and thought-statements (294), which
in Latin are most carefully distinguished by means of the
subjunctive mood ; nor has English any distinct and unam-
biguous way of marking the direct object relation and distin-
guishing it from the nominative relation, while in Latin, again,
these two relations are sharply distinguished by the accusa-
208 INTRODUCTION. [f 588.
tive and nominative inflections. Hence it is against the
genius of English to set up an accusative case in imitation
of Latin grammar; and although English still preserves
traces of a subjunctive mood, we have to acknowledge that
the language has entirely lost the feeling for the original
function of the mood as an expression of thought-statements,
so that the few constructions in which we still keep the old
inflection are only fossilized archaisms. Distinctions of verb-
tense, and the use of prepositions and of verbal -groups
instead of dependent sentences are, on the other hand,
highly developed in English, and are part of the genius of
the language. The faculty by which we instinctively know
whether a certain form or construction is in accordance with
the genius of the language or not, is called * the linguistic
sense/ This faculty is naturally more highly developed in
some people than in others ; but it can always be strength-
ened by training, and the first business of grammar is to
cultivate it as far as possible.
588. From the descriptive point of view grammatical
phenomena are of two kinds, living and dead. In English
such forms as the plural -s and the derivative ending -ness
are living (or productive) forms, because they are still used
freely to form new inflected and derived words on the
pattern of those already existing in the language : when a
new noun is introduced into the language, we can give it a
plural in -s, and when a new adjective is formed, we can
generally form a derivative in -ness from it. Dead (or
sterile) forms, on the other hand, cannot be reproduced by
pattern or analogy, but are preserved only in certain words
which have to be learnt one by one. Most irregular forms —
such as the plural men — are dead, being only exceptionally
reproduced by analogy. In English this form is so dead
that even such a noun as Norman forms its plural Normans.
So also such derivatives as for- in forgive are dead. Dead
forms tend to become fossilized in meaning and isolated
§ 589-] DIVISIONS OF GRAMMAR. 309
from one another ; thus forgive and forbid have nothing in
common except the form of their prefix.
Dead forms are sometimes reproduced by analogy for the
sake of amusement in colloquial language, as when in English
wink, collide, pipeclay form their preterites ^wunk, *collode,
*popeclew on the analogy of sunk, rode, slew, forms which have
been taken seriously by some learned foreigners.
We can, of course, distinguish between dead and living forms
in a 'dead' language — that is, a language which is no longer
spoken, such as Latin, as well as in a ' living ' language such
as French. Thus the Latin genitive in pater-familias is a dead
form, the living genitive being famt'tiae.
GRAMMATICAL DIFFICULTIES.
589. It is evident that the linguistic sense can be based
only on living forms and constructions which occur fre-
quently and in a variety of circumstances. Hence if a form
or construction survives only in a few isolated sentences, or
if its meaning has become fossilized, our linguistic sense may
be at a loss with regard to it, because we have learnt it
ready-made and therefore mechanically, without having had
occasion either to form it afresh on the pattern of similar
forms or constructions, or to form other constructions in
imitation of it. / had rather, in such sentences as / had
rather not do it now, is an example of such an isolated
construction, in regard to which our grammatical instinct
leaves us at fault. In this construction we hardly know
whether to regard had as a full verb or an auxiliary : we ask
ourselves, If it is a full verb, what is its direct object — rather
or »0/?; either supposition goes against our linguistic sense;
and, on the other hand, such a construction as */ had do it
is grammatically impossible. In the more colloquial form /
would rather . . these difficulties disappear. From a purely
logical and descriptive point of view such difficulties as those
presented by / had rather are simply insurmountable ; and
it is better to take such constructions as wholes, without
grammatical analysis — just as we take such a word as man
VOL. i. p
210 INTRODUCTION. [§ 590.
as a whole, without attempting to explain how its meaning
results from the sounds of which it is made up. Blendings,
such as themselves, and elliptical constructions also offer
special grammatical difficulties.
590. All such difficulties require the help of historical
grammar. Sometimes, indeed, the historical explanation is
self-evident, as in the case of the blending these kind of things
and the ellipse in he is at Mr. Smith's. The difficulty of
such forms and constructions as themselves and / had rather,
on the other hand, can be cleared up only by detailed
historical investigation. Even in cases where the explanation
seems self-evident, historical investigation is necessary as
a corrective (7). Thus, as the colloquial I'd rather may be
a contraction either of / had rather or / would rather, we
might get rid of the difficulty by assuming the latter to be
the original form, and supposing I had to be an erroneous
expansion of I'd. But historical investigation shows / had
rather to be the original form.
GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS.
591. Before analysing a sentence or other passage gram-
matically, it should generally be analysed from a logical
point of view, especially if it involves any divergence between
logical and grammatical categories. Thus in analysing such
a complex as it is you that I mean, we should understand
clearly that it expresses a simple thought, and is logically
equivalent to a single sentence, the principal clause it is you
being only an empty sentence (450).
592. Analysis from a purely descriptive point of view
should then follow. The most elementary step in this
analysis is to settle what parts of speech the separate words
belong to, an operation generally known as parsing. The
relations between the words should then be analysed, and
lastly the relations of the whole sentence to other sentences
should be analysed, if necessary. If any construction does
§ 594-1 HIS TOR Y OF ENGLISH. 31 1
not admit of grammatical analysis from the descriptive point
of view, the fact should be acknowledged, and the construc-
tion designated as ' isolated ' or abnormal.
593. Any historical or comparative questions that may
arise should then be considered ; and when it seems advis-
able, special constructions may be examined in the light of
general grammar, and compared with parallel constructions
in other languages whether cognate or not.
Historical and general grammar should be admitted only
when they do not confuse the learner. In learning a foreign
language they should be used sparingly and cautiously.
HISTORY OF ENGLISH.
PERIODS.
594. The name 'English language' in its widest sense
comprehends the language of the English people from their
first settlement in Britain to the present time. For the sake
of convenience we distinguish three main stages in the his-
tory of the language, namely Old English (OE), Middle
English (ME), and Modern English (MnE). OE may
be defined as the period of full endings (mona, sunne, sunu,
stdnas\ ME as the period of levelled endings (mone, sunne,
sune, stgnes), MnE as the period of lost endings (moon, sun,
son, stones =stounz). We further distinguish periods of tran-
sition between these main stages, each of which latter is further
divided into an early and a late period. The dates of these
periods are, roughly, as follows : —
Early Old English (E. of Alfred) . . . 700-900
Late Old English (E. of ^Elfric)' . . . 900-1100
Transition Old English (E. of Layamon) . . 1100-1200
Early Middle English (E. of the Ancren Riwle) . 1200-1300
Late Middle English (E. of Chaucer) . . . 1300-1400
Transition Middle English (Caxton E.) . . 1400-1500
Early Modern English (Tudor E. ; E. of Shake-
spere) 1500-1650
Late Modern English ...... 1650-
p 2
212 INTRODUCTION. [§ 595.
to which may be added Present English, by which we
understand the English of the present time as spoken,
written, and understood by educated people, that is, roughly
speaking, 19th-century English.
COGNATE LANGUAGES.
595. English belongs to the Arian (or Aryan) family of lan-
guages, descended from a hypothetical Parent Arian language,
the chief of which are given in the following table, different
periods of their development being separated by dashes : —
(A) East- Arian, or Asiatic :
(a) Sanskrit, the sacred language of India — Pali — Bengali
and the other Gaurian languages of India.
(6) Iranian languages : Zend or Old Bactrian. Old
Persian, which is the language of the Cuneiform inscriptions —
Modern Persian.
(c) Armenian, which is really half-way between East- and
West- Arian.
(B) West- Arian or European :
(d) Greek — Romaic or Modern Greek.
(e) Latin — the Bomance languages: Italian, Proven9al,
French (Old French, Modern French), Spanish, Portuguese,
Roumanian.
(/) Celtic languages. Gaulish. The Goidelic group :
Irish, Manx, Gaelic. The Cymric group : Welsh, Cornish,
Breton (introduced from Britain).
(g) Slavonic languages. Old Bulgarian — Russian,
Polish, Bohemian, Servian, Bulgarian.
(Ji) Baltic languages. Lithuanian, Lettish.
(t) Germanic languages.
596. The Germanic group, to which English belongs,
consists of the following languages : —
(A) East-Germanic:
(a) Gothic.
(b) Scandinavian languages. West-Scandinavian group :
§6oi.] HISTORY OF ENGLISH. 213
Norwegian, Icelandic. East-Scandinavian group : Danish,
Swedish.
(B) West- Germanic:
(c) Low German languages. Old Saxon — Dutch, Flemish.
Anglo-Frisian group : English, Frisian.
(d) High German, or German.
597. English is then a member of the Anglo-Frisian group
of the Low German languages.
Old English.
598. In the fifth century — or perhaps earlier — Britain was
partially conquered by a variety of Germanic tribes from the
other side of the German Ocean, the chief of which were —
(a) Saxons (OE Seaxan], from the country between the
Elbe and the Rhine.
(b) Angles (OE Engle), from the district still called
Angeln (OE Angel] in the South of Schleswig.
(c) Jutes (OE Geotas) from the North of Schleswig.
599. The first settlement is said to have been that of the
Jutes, who took Kent and the Isle of Wight.
600. The Saxons occupied the country south of the
Thames ; except Cornwall, where the Britons still kept their
nationality. Some of the Saxons settled in Sussex, which
means ' South-Saxons ' (OE Sufi-seaxari) ; some north of
the Thames in Middlesex, which means ' Middle-Saxons '
(OE Middel-seaxan), and Essex, which means ' East-Saxons'
(OE East-seaxan) ; the remaining portion of the tribe being
called ' West-Saxons ' (OE West-seaxan, Wes-seaxaii), whence
their state is called Wessex.
601. The rest of England was occupied by the Angles.
Suffolk (OE Sup-folc=l South-people') and Norfolk (OE
Norp-folc=.1 North-people') were included under the name
of East-Anglia (OE ^.r/-^^='East-anglians'). Another
tribe of Anglians occupied what are now the Midland Coun-
214 INTRODUCTION, [§ 602.
ties, between the Thames and the Humber. These were
called Mercians (OE Mterce), which means ' borderers/
from OE mearc ' mark/ ' boundary/ Mercia was so called
because it bordered on Wales, the country of the Welsh
or ' foreigners ' (OE Wealas, Wgh'sce menn), the name given
by the English to the native Britons. The country north
of the Humber was occupied by a variety of Anglian tribes
included under the name of Northumbrians (OE Norfi-
hymbre). Ancient Northumbria extended up to the Firth
of Forth, and thus included the greater part of what is
now the Lowlands of Scotland.
602. All these tribes spoke the same Anglo-Frisian
language with slight differences of dialect. These differ-
ences increased by degrees, so that already in the 8th
century we can distinguish four main dialects : North-
umbrian and Mercian, which together constitute the
Anglian group; and West-Saxon and Kentish, which
together constitute the Southern group.
> Kentish was originally more akin to the Anglian than the
Saxon dialects, but in course of time it was strongly influenced
by West-Saxon.
603. All these tribes agreed in calling their common
language English (OE Englisc), that is, ' Anglish,' because
the Angles were for a long time the dominant tribe. The
supremacy afterwards passed to the West-Saxons, and their
capital, Winchester, became the capital of England ; and
West-Saxon became the official and, to a great extent, the
literary language all over England. The West-Saxons still
continued to call their language English, the name Anglo-
Saxon (OE Angel-seaxari) being used only as a collective
name for the people, not the language.
604. In this book OE words are always given — unless the
contrary is stated — in their Early West-Saxon forms; that is,
in the dialect of King Alfred.
§608.] HISTORY OF ENGLISH. 315
CHARACTERISTICS OF OLD ENGLISH.
605. The characteristics of OE are those of the other Low
German languages. It was, as compared with MnE, a Highly
inflected language, being in this respect intermediate between
Latin and Modern German. In its syntax it closely re-
sembled Modern German. It also resembled Modern
German in having an unlimited power of forming new words
by derivation and composition, as when it made Scribes and
Pharisees into ' bookers and separation-saints ' (OE boceras
and sundor-hdlgari).
LATIN INFLUENCE.
606. Nevertheless it adopted many Latin words, some of
which it brought with it from the Continent — such words as
street ' high road/ ' street/ mil ' mile/ casere ' emperor ' from
Latin (via) strata, mtlia (passuum), Caesar while others
were learnt from the Romanized Britons, such as ceaster
f city/ Iceden ' language ' from castra, (lingva) Latina. These
are all popular words. There is another layer of learned
words which came in after the introduction of Christianity in
597. Such words are deofol ' devil/ mynster ' monastery/ fers
' verse/ from diabolus, monasterium, versus.
CELTIC INFLUENCE.
607. Very few Celtic words came into OE, because the
Britons themselves were to a great extent Romanized, espe-
cially the inhabitants of the cities, who were mainly the
descendants of the Roman legionary soldiers, dry ' sorcerer '
is an example of a Celtic word in OE.
SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE.
608. Towards the end of the 8th century Scandinavian
pirates — chiefly from Norway, but also from Denmark, all
being indiscriminately called 'Danes' by the Anglo-Saxons —
began to harass the coasts of England. By the end of the
2 1 6 INTR OD UC TION. [§ 609.
next century they had conquered and settled East-Anglia (in
870), Mercia (in 874), and Northumbria (in 876); although
in the next century they were forced to acknowledge the
supremacy of the West-Saxon kings. In 1016 the whole of
England was conquered by the Danes, and England was
ruled by Danish kings till 1042, when the Anglo-Saxon royal
line was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor.
609. It is not till the close of the OE period that Scandi-
navian words appear. Even Late Northumbrian (of about
970) is entirely free from Scandinavian influence.
FRENCH INFLUENCE.
610. With the accession of Edward the Confessor in 1042
Norman influence begins ; and in 1066 the battle of Hastings
made the Norman duke William king of England, although
the actual conquest was not completed till 1071.
611. The Normans were Scandinavian by race, but their
language was a dialect of Old French.
612. The influence of Norman French on OE was of
course even slighter than that of Scandinavian, so that it
does not become a factor of importance till the ME period.
Nevertheless several French words passed into literary OE
even before the Conquest, such as caslel f castle/ capun
' fowi;
Middle English.
613. In its Middle period English went through much the
same changes as the other Germanic languages, though at a
quicker rate. Many of the sounds were changed, most of the
old inflections were lost, their place being supplied by form-
words — prepositions, auxiliary verbs, etc. — and many words
became obsolete.
DIALECTS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH.
614. The Norman Conquest, by depriving the old West-
Saxon of its literary and political supremacy, gave free play
§6i7-] HISTORY OF ENGLISH. 317
to the development of the dialects. Although the ME dialects
are continuations of the OE ones, it is convenient to call
most of them by different names. The main divisions are
Northern, corresponding to the Old Northumbrian, Mid-
land, corresponding to the Old Mercian, Southern, corre-
sponding to the old West- Saxon, and Kentish. We include
the first two under the term ' North-Thames English/ the
last two under ' South-Thames English.'
615. Of these dialects the Midland was the predominating
one. Its commanding position in the heart of England
enabled it to exercise a direct influence on all the other
dialects, while Southern and Northern were completely cut
off from one another. Hence even the earliest Southern of
about 1 200 shows considerable influence of the Midland — or
Old Mercian — dialect.
616. It is to be observed that the changes which distin-
guish one period of English from another went on much
faster in the North of England than in the South. In fact,
the Old Northumbrian dialect of the loth century had already
entered on its transition period — characterized by a general
confusion in the use of inflections, and was thus almost on a
level with the Early Southern Middle English of about 1200.
Again, the Northern dialect in its Early Middle period had
got rid of nearly all the inflections that are not preserved in
MnE, being thus several centuries ahead of the South-Thames
dialects. The Midland dialects were more conservative than
the Northern, though less so than the South-Thames dialects.
It will be seen, then, that the criteria of full, levelled, and lost
endings by which we distinguish the periods of English (594)
apply only to the South-Thames dialects.
STRUGGLE BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
617. For a long time the two languages, French and
English, kept almost entirely apart. The English of 1200 is
almost as free from French words as the English of 1050;
218 INTRODUCTION. [§ 618.
and it was not till after 1300 that French words began to be
adopted wholesale into English.
618. Meanwhile English was steadily gaining the upper
hand. In 1258 we find it officially employed in the Proclama-
tion of Henry III. In the next century French gradually fell
into disuse even among the aristocracy. In 1362 English was
introduced in the courts of law instead of French. About the
same time English took the place of French as the vehicle of
instruction in schools.
RISE OF THE LONDON DIALECT.
619. In the ME period the dialects had diverged so much
that speakers of the extreme Northern and extreme Southern
dialects were no longer able to understand one another, and
the need of a common dialect became pressing. Such a
common dialect can be formed only in a centre of intercourse
where speakers from all parts of the country meet constantly.
Such a centre was London, which now was not only the
capital of England, but also a place of great and growing
commercial importance.
620. The London dialect, as we find it in its earliest
document, the Proclamation of Henry III, shows such a
mixture of Midland and Southern forms as we might expect
from its position on the border-line between these two
dialects. The Midland dialect was intermediate between the
two extremes, Northern and Southern, not only geographi-
cally but also linguistically; so that speakers of Midland
could understand both Northern and Southern much better
than Northerners and Southerners could understand one
another. Hence the Midland element in the London dialect
made the latter peculiarly fitted to serve as a means of
general communication. Hence also the Midland element
in the London dialect became stronger and stronger in the
course of the ME period, till at last even Northern forms
§ 622.] HISTORY OF ENGLISH. 219
passed into it through the medium of the Midland dialect,
while Southern influence became weaker and weaker.
SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE.
621. Of the Scandinavian settlers in England the Nor-
wegians spoke a West-Scandinavian, the Danes an East-
Scandinavian dialect, the difference between these dialects
being however very slight. The Scandinavian words im-
ported into English seem to be mostly Danish. Although
the Scandinavian dialects were not intelligible to the Anglo-
Saxons, yet the cognate languages English and Scandinavian
were so similar in structure and had so many words in com-
mon— hus ' house,' land ' land/' for instance, being both
English and Scandinavian — that the languages blended to-
gether with the same facility as the races that spoke them.
English got the upper hand, but Scandinavian nevertheless
left its mark on every English dialect, especially the East-
Midland and Northern dialects, where, the population was
half Scandinavian. ///, fro in ' to and fro/ bound in ' bound
for a place/ are examples of Scandinavian words in English
(Icelandic ill-r ' bad//r« 'from/ buinn ' ready').
FRENCH INFLUENCE.
622. The Norman French introduced into England was
not a uniform dialect, but was itself split up into local varieties
or sub-dialects, which in the Norman spoken in England —
the ' Anglo-Norman ' or ' Anglo-French ' language — were
mixed together indiscriminately. The accession of Henry of
Anjou in 1154 brought in the influence of another French
dialect — the Angevin. The loss of Normandy in 1204 Put
an end to the influence of Continental Norman ; and hence-
forth Anglo-French was influenced only by the literary French
of Paris, this Parisian French having the same predominance
among the French dialects as London English had among the
English dialects. At the time when the influence of Anglo-
220 INTRODUCTION. [§623.
French on English begins to be important — that is, in the late
ME period — it was, therefore, a mixture of Old French of
different periods and different dialects, modified by changes
of its own, and also by the influence of English itself,
especially in its pronunciation.
623. Old French was a language standing in the same
relation to its parent language Latin as MnE to OE, and
Modern Danish to Old Icelandic. It was therefore not only
remotely cognate with ME — both languages being of West-
Arian origin — but was also in much the same stage of
development. This similarity in general character between
the two languages greatly increased their influence on one
another.
624. French influence on English is most marked in the
vocabulary. Soon after the Conquest English ceased for
several centuries to be the language of the higher purposes of
life, and sank almost to a mere peasant's dialect. So when
English came again into general use, it had lost a great part
of its higher vocabulary, for which it had to use French
words, such as sir, duke ; captain, army, battle ; sermon, preach.
Even when the English word was kept, the same idea was
often expressed by a French word, whence numerous sy-
nonyms such as work and labour, weak and feeble.
LATIN INFLUENCE.
625. In Old French itself we must distinguish between
popular and learned words. The popular words in Old
French, such as sire 'lord/ from Latin senior'' older,' are
simply Latin words which have undergone those changes
which take place in every language whose development is
natural and unimpeded. But as Latin was kept up as an
independent — we might almost say a living — language
throughout the Middle Ages, Latin words were imported
into Old French as well as the other Romance languages,
being used first in books, then in ordinary speech. These
§631.] HISTORY OF ENGLISH. 221
learned words were kept as much as possible unchanged,
being pronounced as they were written. It often happened
that a Latin word which had assumed a popular form in
French, was re-imported direct from Latin, so that chrono-
logical doublets were formed, such as c aitif ' wretched ' and
captif, both from Latin captwus, whence the English caitiff
and captive.
626. These learned French words were introduced into
ME in great numbers. Hence when Latin words came to
be imported directly into English, they were put into a French
shape on the analogy of those Latin words which had really
been brought in through French. Thus when a word in
-/*"<?, such as nominatid, was taken direct from Latin, it was
made into -tion (MnE nomination] on the analogy of the
older importations, such as nation (ME ndcwuri).
627. French had also some influence on English syntax,
and many French idioms and phrases were adopted into
spoken English through imitation of the aristocracy.
628. On the whole, however, the influence of French on
the grammatical structure of English was not great, the
numerous agreements between the two languages being the
result of independent development.
Modern English.
629. In the Middle period literary English was still dis-
tinctly an inflectional language. In the Modern period it
became mainly uninflectional, with only scanty remains of
the older inflections.
630. The Modern period is that of the complete ascen-
dency of the London dialect, which henceforth is the only
one used in writing throughout England. Henceforth the
other dialects of England continued to exist only as illiterate
forms of speech confined within narrow areas.
631. The Northern dialect of Scotland was more indepen-
dent of the influence of the London dialect ; but long before
222 INTRODUCTION. [§ 632.
the union of the crowns of the two countries in 1603 literary
Scotch showed strong English influence, and by the time of
the union of the Scotch and English parliaments in 1707,
literary Scotch was wholly assimilated to literary English.
Literary English had indeed been the liturgical language of
Scotland ever since the Reformation, when the English trans-
lation of the Bible was adopted without any attempt to adapt
it to the Northern dialect of Scotland. But the pure ' Broad
Scotch ' continued to be the spoken language of the upper as
well as the lower classes both in town and country up to the
end of the last century.
632. In England, on the contrary, London English was
not only a literary, but also a spoken language, which every
educated man acquired more or less perfectly, whatever his
native dialect might be; although, of course, it was always
liable to be influenced by the local dialects in various degrees,
according to the education of the speaker and other circum-
stances. This influence is still very strong in Scotland,
whose educated speech, though almost pure English in
vocabulary and grammar, is in its sounds strongly dialectal.
633. The spread of Modern London English — or ' Stan-
dard English/ as we may now call it — was greatly aided by
the introduction of printing in 1476. The publication of
Tindal's translation of the New Testament in 1525 paved
the way for the Authorized Version of 1611, which made
Early Modern London English what it has ever since been —
the sacred or liturgical language of the whole English-speaking
race.
INFLUENCE OF OTHER LANGUAGES.
634. In the Early Modern period, the Renascence — the
revival of the study of the classical authors of Greece and
Rome — led to the adoption of an immense number of Greek
as well as Latin words, the Greek words being generally
Latinized, just as the Latin words imported into Middle
English were Frenchified.
§ 639.] HISTOR Y OF ENGLISH.
635. As the first prose writings were mostly either trans-
lations from Latin, or else the work of scholars to whom
Latin was in some respects a more natural means of ex-
pression than English, it was inevitable that Early MnE
prose was greatly influenced by Latin, not only in vocabu-
lary, but also in grammatical structure and idioms. In a
few generations many Latin — and some Greek — words and
expressions which were at first purely learned and technical
passed into the language of everyday life ; while, on the
other hand, many others became obsolete.
636. As the relations of England with other countries
became more extended, many words were imported into
English from almost every European language, especially
Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and from
many other languages besides, such as Arabic, Persian, and
Turkish, and the native languages of America.
637. Standard English has always been influenced by the
different English dialects. The literary revival of Broad
Scotch at the end of the last century by Scott and Burns has
introduced many Scotch words into literary English.
PERIODS.
638. The main general difference between Early and Late
MnE is that the former is the period of experiment and com-
parative licence both in. the importation and in the formation
of new words, idioms, and grammatical constructions. The
Late MnE period is, on the other hand, one of selection and
organization. The most marked differences in detail are the
great sound-changes undergone by the spoken language —
changes which have been completely disguised by the fixity
of the orthography.
Present English.
639. In the second half of the present century the
old local dialects had begun to die out, especially in
124 INTRODUCTION. [§ 640
England, where they are gradually giving way to Standard
English.
640. But on the other hand new local dialects are develop-
ing themselves by cleavage of the common London dialect
in the Modern period — especially the Late Modern period —
mainly through colonization.
641. The English colonization of Ireland in the Early
Modern period made Early Modern Standard English the
general language of culture throughout the island. Hence
the present vulgar Irish-English is really an independent
dialect of Standard English, which is in many cases more
archaic than the present London dialect, although many
of its peculiarities are the result of the influence of Celtic
Irish. The speech of the educated Irish is Present Standard
English mixed in various degrees with vulgar Irish-English.
642. Through the colonization of British North America
in the i6th and ifth centuries, the American English of the
United States and Canada is another independent modifi-
cation of Standard English, though much less archaic than
Irish-English. Educated American English is now almost
entirely independent of British influence, and differs from it
considerably, though as yet not enough to make the two
dialects — American English and British English — mutually
unintelligible. American English itself is beginning to split
up into dialects.
643. Australia and New Zealand were colonized during
the present century, and their educated speech differs but
slightly from British English, except that the influence of the
vulgar London or ' Cockney ' dialect is stronger in Australasian
than in British English.
644. These new dialectal differences are mainly ob-
servable in the spoken language. Literary English still
maintains its unity everywhere, a few ' Americanisms ' ex-
cepted, the differences of the spoken dialects being utilized in
literature only for comic purposes, or to give what is called
§ 647.] HISTOR Y OF ENGLISH. 22$
'local colour/ the reproduction of the real dialect being
generally only partial and often inaccurate.
645. This grammar deals mainly with educated British
English, the standard for which is the educated speech of
London and the South of England generally.
STRATA.
646. Of this Standard English we must distinguish 'strata/
or non-local dialects.
647. The main division is that between the spoken or
colloquial, and the written or literary language. The spoken
language is again distinguished as educated or polite col-
loquial, and vulgar colloquial. The vulgar speech of Lon-
don and the district immediately round London is called
Cockney. There are also varieties of literary English.
The language of prose often approaches very closely to that
of ordinary conversation ; while that of poetry — and, to some
extent, of higher, imaginative prose as well — is characterised
by many peculiar words and forms, many of which are
Early Modern colloquialisms which have become obsolete in
the spoken language. The liturgical language of the Bible
and the Church Services is still pure Early MnE ; it has
strongly influenced the spoken as well as the written English
of the present day. The language of proverbs and other
sayings also contains many archaisms.
VOL. i.
PHONOLOGY.
PHONETICS.
648. Phonetics is the science of speech-sounds.
649. As the ordinary or nomic spelling does not
always show the real pronunciation, it is necessary to use a
phonetic spelling, which, to prevent confusion, we enclose
in ( ). Thus (s93kl) is the phonetic spelling of Nomic circle.
Analysis.
650. The foundation of speech-sounds is breath expelled
from the lungs, and variously modified by the vocal organs —
throat, nose, mouth, lips. Each sound is the result of certain
definite actions or positions of the vocal organs, by which
the sound-passage assumes a certain definite shape.
THROAT-SOUNDS : BREATH AND VOICE.
651. The first modification the breath undergoes is in the
throat. If the vocal chords, which are stretched across the
inside of the throat, are kept apart so that the air can pass
through with but little hindrance, we have breath, as in
ordinary breathing or sighing, and in the consonant (h), as
in high. If the chords are brought together so as to vibrate,
we have voice, as in murmuring or in the word err.
NASAL SOUNDS.
652. If the passage into the nose is left open, we have
a nasal sound, such as (m) in am. In the formation of all
§ 656.] PHONETICS. 227
sounds that are not nasal — non-nasal sounds — such as the
(b) in amber, the nose-passage is closed by pressing back
the uvula or soft palate.
CONSONANTS.
653. If the mouth-passage is narrowed so as to cause
audible friction — that is, a hissing or buzzing sound — a
consonant is produced. Thus if we bring the lower lip
against the upper teeth, and send out breath, we form the
' lip-teeth-breath/ or, more briefly, the ' lip-teeth ' consonant
(f). If we form an (f) with throat- vibration, we get the
corresponding * lip-teeth-voice ' consonant (v). Breath or
voiceless consonants are sometimes expressed by adding (K)
to the symbol of the corresponding voice consonant, thus
(wh) as in why, is the breath consonant corresponding to the
voice consonant (w) as in wine. ' Stopped ' consonants are
formed with complete stoppage of the mouth-passage. Thus
the * lip-stop ' consonant (p) is formed by bringing the lips
together so as completely to stop the passage of air.
VOWELS.
654. If the mouth-passage is left so open as not to cause
audible friction, and voiced breath is sent through it, we have
a vowel, such as (aa) in father. Every alteration in the
shape of the mouth produces a different vowel. Thus a
slight alteration of the (aa)-position produces the vowel (ae)
in man.
VOWEL-LIKE CONSONANTS.
655. Some consonants have hardly any friction when
voiced, and are called vowel-like consonants. Such con-
sonants are (1), as in little (litl), and (m).
Synthesis.
656. We have now to consider the synthesis of sounds,
Q 2
228 PHONOLOGY. [§ 657.
that is, the different ways in which they are joined together
in speech.
657. When sounds are joined together we have to consider
their relative quantity, stress, and intonation.
QUANTITY.
658. By quantity, sounds are distinguished as long, half-
long or medium, and short, 'long' being often used to
include half-long as well. In phonetic notation long and
half-long vowels are doubled, short vowels being written
single, as in (maama) murmur. The length of consonants is
only occasionally marked by doubling.
STRESS.
659. There are three main degrees of stress or loudness :
strong, half-strong or medium, and weak. Thus in con-
tradict the last syllable is strong, the first half-strong, the next
weak. We mark strong stress by (•), half-strong by (:), these
marks being put before the sound on which the stressed syl-
lable begins, weak or unstressed syllables being left unmarked :
(:kontr9'dikt). Weak stress is marked when necessary by
prefixing (-), as in (-it reinz) ' it rains.'
660. Sounds which occur only in unstressed syllables,
such as the short (9) in (maamo) murmur, are called weak.
INTONATION.
661. Intonation or tone is either level, rising, or falling,
marked respectively (~, ', x). The level tone is not much used
in speech. The rising tone is heard in questions, such as
what', the falling in answers, such as no\ Besides these
simple tones, there are compound tones, formed by uniting
a rising and a falling tone in one syllable. The compound
rise or falling-rising tone (marked y) may be heard in fake
care ! when used warningly ; the compound fall or rising-
falling tone (marked A) may be heard in oh I when expressing
sarcasm.
§ 667.] PHONETICS. 229
662. The level tone may be either high or low in pitch,
and the other tones may begin either in a high or a low
pitch. When excited, we speak in a high pitch or key ; when
depressed, in a low key.
663. The non-level tones can pass through different
intervals. The greater the interval, the more emphatic the
tone becomes. Thus what' with a slight rise expresses
mere enquiry, but with a long rise — rising from a very
low to a very high pitch — it expresses surprise or indigna-
tion.
GLIDES,
664. Glides are sounds produced during the transition from
one sound to another. Thus in (kii) key we have the glide
from the (k)-position to the (ii)-position, which does not,
however, require to be written, as it is implied by the posi-
tions of (k) and (ii).
665. Consonants are often joined together without any
glide, not only in such combinations as (nd) in hand, where
the (d) is formed by continuing the (n), the nose-passage
being closed at the same time, but also in such words as the
English act (aekt).
SYLLABLES.
666. A syllable is a vowel, either alone or in combination
with consonants, uttered with a single impulse of stress.
Every fresh impulse of stress makes a new syllable, the be-
ginning of the syllable corresponding with the beginning of
the stress. Thus (9-tsek) attack has two syllables, the first
syllable consisting of the vowel (9) uttered with weak stress,
the second of (tsek) uttered with a new impulse of stress
beginning on the (t). Vowel-like consonants often form syl-
lables in the same way as vowels, as in &*///<? =(baet-l).
DIPHTHONGS.
667. If two vowels are uttered with one impulse of stress,
so as to form a single syllable, the combination is called a
230 PHONOLOGY. [§ 668.
diphthong, such as (oi) in oil. Most diphthongs have the
stress on the first element. If three vowels are combined in
this way, we have a triphthong, as in (fa\z}fire. A simple
long vowel, such as (99), is called a monophthong.
We now have to consider sounds more in detail.
Vowels.
668. As every alteration in the shape of the mouth pro-
duces a different vowel, the number of vowels is infinite.
Hence what we call the vowels, (a), (i) etc., are really groups
of an indefinite number of vowels differing very slightly from
one another.
ROUNDING.
669. The shape of the mouth-passage by which vowels
are formed depends partly on the position of the tongue,
partly on that of the lips. If the lip-opening is narrowed
while the tongue is in a certain position, the resulting vowel
is said to be rounded. Thus (y) in French lune is the round
vowel corresponding to the unrounded (ii), which is nearly
the sound in English he, both vowels having the same tongue-
position.
TONGUE-RETRACTION.
670. The tongue-positions depend partly on the degree
of retraction of the tongue, partly on its height or distance
from the palate.
671. If the root of the tongue is drawn back, we have a
back vowel, such as the (aa) m father. If the fore part of
the tongue is advanced, we have a front vowel, such as (ii).
If the tongue is left in its neutral position, intermediate
between back and front, we have a mixed vowel, such as (99).
TONGUE-HEIGHT.
672. If the tongue is raised as close to the palate as is
possible without making the vowel into a consonant, a
§673.] PHONETICS. 231
high vowel is formed. Thus (i) is a high-front vowel, (u),
as in full, a high-back-round vowel. There are two other
degrees of height, mid and low. For convenience we may
include mid and low vowels under the common name ' un-
high' vowels, distinguishing them as close and open,
according to the degree of openness of the mouth- passage.
We denote open vowels, when necessary, by italics. French
/in ///is the mid-front-close vowel, or, more briefly, the front-
close vowel, for when a vowel is not expressly called high,
we assume it to be un-high. English (e) in men is the corre-
sponding mid-front-open vowel. The Scotch vowel in men is
more open than the English, being a low-front vowel ; but
these English and Scotch vowels are so similar that we
include them under the common name ' front-open.' Very
open vowels are called broad. (&) in man is a broad front
vowel. The distinction of close and open applies also to the
high vowels. Thus French (i) in fini is the close high front
vowel, English (z) in finny is the open high front vowel.
ACOUSTIC QUALITIES OF VOWELS.
673. If we compare the acoustic qualities of the vowels —
that is, the impression they make on the e#r — we find that
they differ in pitch and clearness, close (i) having the highest
pitch and clearest sound, while (u) has the deepest sound.
Tongue-retraction and lip-rounding both have the same effect
of lowering the pitch and dulling the sound of the vowels.
Thus the back and mixed vowels (aa, 99) are duller in sound
than the front vowels (i, e, se), and the front round vowel (y)
is duller than the corresponding unrounded vowel (i). Hence
vowels formed in quite different ways often have the same pitch,
which makes them very similar in sound. Thus the English
mixed vowel (99) and the French front round vowel (ce) in
peur are very similar in sound.
232 PHONOLOGY. [§ 674.
THE VOWELS IN DETAIL.
The following are the most important vowels.
(A) Unrounded vowels.
674. (a) ' clear back.' This vowel occurs only long in
English, in such words as (faatfo) father, farther ; (aamz) alms,
arms. Short (a) occurs in French and German, and in many
English dialects, as in the Yorkshire man.
675. (B) ' dull back/ The English vowel in son, sun,
courage (k^rid5).
676. (9) ' mixed ' or ' neutral ' vowel, (t99n) turn, (b99d)
bird. The short (9) in (m99m9) murmur is a weak vowel
(660).
677. (i) ' high front/ Close (i) in French fint, the short E. i
being always open. Weak open (i) — which, when necessary,
we write (I) — as in (pet?) petty is opener than the strong (i) in
pit, being really intermediate between (*") and (e). Long close
(ii) is the older E. sound in such words as see, sea, receive,
machine, and this sound is still preserved in Scotland and the
North of England. In the South of England it is diphthong-
ized into (z) followed by very close (i), which is nearly the
sound of the consonant (j) in you, so we writ^ (sij), etc.
678. (e) ' front/ French e is close front. The E. vowel
in men, bread, leopard (lepad) is open front (e). Before (9) —
with which it forms a diphthong — it is still opener, as in (fea)
fare, fair, (t5e9) there, their. The long close front (ee) is
still preserved in Scotch in such words as name, day, where
Standard E. has the diphthong (e\\
679. (ae) ' broad front/ The E. vowel in man, thresh.
(B) Round vowels.
680. (u) ' high back round/ Close in French sou, the E.
short (u) m/ull, good being always open. The older close
(uu) in such words as moon, move, you (juu) is still kept in
Scotland and the North of England, but in the South of Eng-
§ 68;.] PHONETICS. 233
land it becomes («w) with a distinct (vv). Weak open (u), as in
value, is the high mixed round vowel, which, when necessary,
we write (ii) — (vaeljii).
681. (o) * back round.' Close in French beau (bo). Close
(oo) in Scotch no, know, where Standard E. has the diphthong
(<?u). The (o) in the diphthong (o\), as in boy, is the same
open sound. Weak (o), as in October, is the open mixed
vowel, which, when necessary, we write (o)— (oktouba).
Weak (6u), as in fellow, is hardly to be distinguished from (6).
682. (o) ' broad back round.' This is the sound of the E.
short vowels in not, what. The long broad vowel is heard in
such words as naught, fall. For convenience we write the
short vowel (o), the long (o) in Standard E. — (not, not).
683. (y) 'high front round '= rounded (i). French une.
German uber.
684. (ce) ' front-round.' Close in French/^, whose vowel
is a rounded French /. Open in French peur.
Nasal Vowels.
685. If a vowel is formed with the nose-passage open, it
is said to be nasal, which we mark by (n). Thus we have
nasal (a, ae) in French sang, sans (saw), vin (vaew).
Diphthongs.
686. We call (ei, ou ; ij, uw) half diphthongs, because
they are not very distinct, their two elements differing only in
height.
687. Full diphthongs, on the other hand, such as (ai, au,
oi) are made up of vowels as distinct as possible from one
another. But in E., as in many other languages, the elements
of such diphthongs are not kept so distinct as they might be.
Thus, while the diphthong in Italian aura is really a clear (a)
followed by a high close (u), the corresponding E. diphthong
in house begins with a mixed vowel resembling (ae), and ends
with an indistinct mixed (6), the E. diphthong (ou) ending
234
PHONOLOGY.
[§ 688.
nearly in the same way. So also the E. diphthong in why,
time begins with a mixed vowel and ends in a sound between
(t) and (e). The E. (ei, oi) end in the same way. So by
writing (haus, whai, taim) we merely indicate a movement
from openness to closeness either of the mouth-passage or the
lip-passage.
688. There is another class of murmur diphthongs
ending in (9), as in hear, here (hid), fare ,fair (fed), poor (pus),
pure (pj«9), more (moa). There are also murmur triphthongs,
as mfire (faia), loyal (loial).
689. The following table will show the relations of the
chief vowels more clearly. Those marked * do not occur
in English : —
high back
*A
high mixed
*i
high front
i
back
a ; v
mixed
9
front
e ; ae
high back round
u
high mixed round
ii
high front round
y
back round
0, 0
mixed round
6
front round
ce
690. The relations of the English vowels may be shown
thus :
Short: . * 3 i e,ae u o
Long: . . . aa aa o
Half diphthongs : . ij ei uw ou
Full diphthongs : . ai, au oi
Murmur diphthongs : is e3 us oa
Consonants.
691. Consonants admit of a two-fold division (a) by
form, (b) by place.
§ 7oi.] PHONETICS. 235
FORM.
692. By form there are five classes : —
693. (a) Open, in which the passage is narrowed without
stoppage, such as (s).
694. (6) Side, formed by stopping the middle of the pas-
sage and leaving it open at the sides, as in (1).
695. (c) Stopped, formed by complete closure. The
voiceless stops (k, t, p) are in English followed by a breath
glide or slight puff of breath, thus cat almost = (khseth).
696. (d) Nasal consonants are formed with complete
closure of the mouth-passage, the nose-passage being left
open, as in (m). When an unstopped (open or side) con-
sonant is formed with the nose-passage open, it is said to be
nasalized.
697. (e) Trills are the result of vibration of the flexible
parts of the mouth. Thus in the trilled Scotch (r) the point
of the tongue vibrates against the gums, the E. (r) in red
being an open consonant without any trill.
PLACE.
698. By place there are also five classes : —
699. (a] Back, formed by the root of the tongue, such as
(k, rj) in king (kin). The back open consonant (x) is the
sound of ch in the Scotch and German loch. The corre-
sponding voice consonant (5) is heard in German sage.
700. (b) Front, formed by the middle of the tongue,
such as the front open voice consonant (j) in you, which is
really a consonantal (i). The corresponding breath con-
sonant (g) is heard in German ich and Scotch hue, Hugh
(c,uu), which in Southern E. is pronounced (hjuw).
701. (c) Point, formed by the tip of .the tongue. In the
point-gum consonants, such as E. (t, d, n, 1) the point of
the tongue is brought against the gums just behind the teeth ;
in the point-teeth consonants, such as the point-teeth-open
236 PHONOLOGY. [§ 702.
(]>) in thin, it is brought against the teeth. The voice con-
sonant corresponding to (f>) is (5) in then.
702. (d) Blade, formed by the blade of the tongue — that
part of it which is immediately behind the point, (s, z) are
blade consonants. In the blade-point consonants, such
as the blade-point open (J) in she, the blade position is modi-
fied by raising the point of the tongue. The corresponding
voice consonant (5) is heard in measure (me59).
703. The point and blade consonants are included under
the name of forward consonants.
704. (e) Lip, formed by the lips, such as (p, m). The
lip-open consonant (<£) is the sound produced in blowing out
a candle; the corresponding voice consonant occurs in
German in such words as quelle (k/3*b) ; (f, v) are lip -teeth
consonants, (w^), as in why, and (w) are lip-back con-
sonants, formed by narrowing the lip-opening and raising
the back of the tongue at the same time, (w) being a con-
sonantal (u). In Southern E. (vth) is often pronounced (w).
COMPOUND CONSONANTS : ROUNDING, FRONTING.
705. (w^, w) are really compound consonants, formed in
two places at once. If instead of back-modifying the lip-
open consonant, as in (w^), we lip-modify or round the
back-open consonant (x), we get the back-round consonant
(xw) in German auch. Other consonants may be rounded
in the same way, which \ve express by adding (w); thus
(rz#ed) is red pronounced with a rounded (r).
706. When a consonant is modified by raising the front
of the tongue, it is said to be front-modified or fronted,
which we express by adding (/). Thus the lip-open front-
modified consonant is the sound in French huit (/3/it) ; it is
almost a consonantal (y).
INTERMEDIATE POSITIONS.
707. Besides the main positions known as back, front,
etc., there are an indefinite number of intermediate positions,
§7".]
PHONETICS.
237
which we distinguish roughly as inner or nearer the throat,
and outer or nearer the lips. Thus we have inner (k)
before back vowels, as in caw, outer (k) before front vowels,
as in key. E. (r), as in red, is an inner point consonant.
THE ASPIRATE.
708. The aspirate (h) is partly an open throat consonant,
partly a breath vowel-glide. Thus (h) in hook is mainly
formed by unvoicing the beginning of the (u), almost as if
we were to write the word (w^uk). So also the (h) in he re-
sembles a weakened (g). (h) also occurs before the con-
sonant (j), as in hue (hjuw).
7O9. The following is a table of the chief consonants.
Those marked * do not occur in E.
BREATH.
Throat.
Back.
Front.
Point.
Blade.
Blade.
Point.
Lip.
Lip-
Back.
Lip-
Teeth.
Open
h
*x
*9
*r/%,J>
s
J
*<*>
W/fc
f
Side .
—
*
Stop .
k
*c
t
P
Nasal
—
•v
*M
*n/fc
*m/i
VOICE.
Open
—
*s
j
r,6
z
5
*0
w
v
Side .
—
1
Stop .
—
g
*q
d
b
Nasal
—
9
*fl
n
m
710. We generally write (rh), etc., instead of (r^) for the
sake of convenience.
R IN ENGLISH.
711. (r) in E. occurs only before a vowel following it without
any pause, as in here he is (hiar ij iz) ; before a consonant or
238 PHONOLOGY. [§712.
a pause it is dropped, leaving only the preceding (9), as in
here she is, he is here (his Jij iz, hij z hia). This (9) is ab-
sorbed by a preceding (99, aa), as in err, erring, far, far
away (99, 99rirj, faa, faar 9wei). After (o) the (9) is kept
finally, but dropped before the (r), as in pour, pouring (pD9,
porirj), being also dropped before a consonant in the same
word, as in poured (pod).
712. Short strong vowel + (r) occurs only medially, as in
spirit, merit, courage (kurids), sorry.
713. Weak (9r, or), as in after all, measuring (aaft9r ol,
me39rin), one or other (wen or <etS9), drop the (r) when not
followed by a vowel, as in afterwards (aaft9w9dz), two or
three (tuw 6 J?rij).
714. In Scotch and Irish E. and in many of the dialects of
England (r) is kept as a consonant — often trilled — every-
where, in far, far back, as well as in far aivay.
LAWS OF SOUND-CHANGE.
715. Sound-changes fall under two main classes— internal
and external.
716. Internal changes are either organic or acoustic.
Organic changes are due to the natural tendencies of the
organs of speech, as in the change of OE stdn into MnE stone
through the natural tendency to pronounce a back vowel
without opening the mouth fully, and so to round it.
717. Acoustic changes are the result of the impressions
which sounds make on the ear, as when one sound is sub-
stituted for another because of their likeness to the ear : thus
children often make through (f>ruw) into (fru\v), and point (r)
is changed into back (5) in French and other languages.
These are imitative changes.
718. External changes are those which are independent
of organic and acoustic tendencies. Thus the change of
§ 722.] LAWS OF SOUND- CHANGE. 239
spake into spoke in MnE is not the result of any tendency to
change d into o in MnE, but of the influence of the preterite
participle spoken (539).
719. Internal changes are further distinguished as isolative
and combinative. Isolative changes, such as that of OE a
into MnE d, affect a sound without regard to its surroundings,
while in combinative changes one sound is modified by
another one close to it, as in the change of ME (au) in saw
into MnE (SDO) through (sou) or (s#u). Here we have two
distinct combinative changes : first the rounding of the (a) by
the influence of the following (u), and then the lowering of
the high (u) till it is merged into the (o). We see that the
influence of one sound on another is either backwards, as
in the change of (au) into (ou), or forwards, as in the
change of (DU) into (DO).
720. All combinative changes are, besides, either conver-
gent or divergent. Convergent changes, as of (au) into
(ou) are organic, being due to the tendency to save trouble
by making the passage from one sound to another as short
and easy as possible.
Complete convergence or assimilation in diphthongs
makes them into monophthongs, as when (ou) becomes (oo),
and in this case is called smoothing.
721. Divergent changes are often partly acoustic, being
due to the striving for distinctness, as when the half diphthong
(ou) in no is made into full (au) in Cockney E. But
cleaving, by which a long vowel is made into a diphthong,
is an isolative organic change ; it consists generally in forming
the first half of the vowel with greater openness — either of
the mouth- or the lip-passage — than the second. We see
the beginning of cleaving in the E. change of (ii, uu) into
(ij, uw), which by divergence could easily become (ei, ou) or
(ai, ou) and then (ai, au).
722. We see from all these changes that even the most
violent changes — such as that of (ii) into (ai) — are the result
240 PHONOLOGY. [§ 723.
of a number of very slight changes— that sound-changes,
like all other changes in language, are gradual. Organic
sound-changes are mainly the result of carelessness, by
which the speaker fails to hit the exact position for forming
a sound, or laziness, as in combinative changes.
723. The loss of sounds or sound- dropping is the result
partly of laziness, partly of the sound's indistinctness, as in
the frequent dropping of weak vowels, or even syllables, as
in the familiar (koz)= because', partly of economy, or the ten-
dency to get rid of superfluous distinctions. Thus sing was
pronounced (sing) in ME, but as (rj) occurs only before (g)
and (k), the (g) could be dropped without confusing (sin)
with (sink) sink, and so the superfluous (g) has been dropped
in MnE.
OLD-ENGLISH SOUNDS.
Orthography.
724. The Anglo-Saxons brought with them to England
their national Runic alphabet, which was founded on one of
the Old Greek alphabets or possibly the latin. On their
conversion to Christianity they adopted the Latin alphabet
in its British form, to which they afterwards added the two
Runic letters ^—th and p = zv. In the British-Latin alpha-
bet— and consequently in the OE alphabet as well — several of
the letters had peculiar forms, g for instance being written 5.
725. Each letter of the Latin alphabet was used to denote
the OE sound nearest to that which the letter had in the
pronunciation of British Latin, which was more archaic than
that of the Continental Latin.
726. Spelling in OE was purely phonetic : the OE scribes
wrote as they spoke, as far as the defects of their alphabet
would allow them to do so.
727. In this book we supplement the defective distinctions
§ 729.] OLD ENGLISH. 241
of the OE orthography by adding diacritics, which gives the
following new letters — /, g, c, g, a, etc., (" ) denoting vowel-
length.
Pronunciation.
728. The vowels had the same sounds as in our phonetic
notation, the unmodified vowels being all close except a.
a=(a), as in far -an ' go,' ' travel '; long in stdn ' stone.' e=
close (e), as in etan ' eat ' ; long in me ' me.' There was also
an open e, which we write /, as in mgte ' food/ z'= close (i),
as in witan 'know'; long in win 'wine/ o— close (o), as
in God ' God ' ; long in god ' good/ There was also an
open broad o, which we write £, as in Igng ' long/ u-=
close (u), as in sunu ' son ' ; long in Ms ' house/ y= close
(y) as in synn ' sin ' ; long in fyr ' fire/ The letter y thus
preserved in OE its original Latin and Greek sound of
French u ; thus the Greek word humnos ' hymn ' was im-
ported into Latin in the form of hymnus—\hz y being simply
a tailed Greek u — which, again, was imported into OE in
the form of ymen, the first vowel having the same sound
in all three languages. <^=(ae), as in feeder ' father ' ; long
in hcelan ' heal/ ce had the sound of close (ce), as in bloztsian
' bless ' ; long in feet ' feet/ The diphthongs ea, eo had the
stress on the first element, which was open — =(ae) — in ea,
ea ('sea, -sesea), close in eot eo ('eo, *eeo) : heard ' hard/ dead
' dead ' ; eorpe l earth,' deop ' deep/ In te the two elements
were originally pronounced separately, but in ordinary West-
Saxon the diphthong was smoothed into open (z'), as in ieldra
' older,' ' elder ' ; long in hieran * hear/
729. The following consonants require notice. f=(k),
as in cene 'bold/ ^=(c), resembling in sound our ^=(tj),
as in cirtce ' church/ These two sounds are sometimes
distinguished in the manuscripts by writing k for the back-
consonant, as in kene, and keeping c to denote the front
sound, g when not initial was pronounced (5), as in dagas
VOL. i. R
242 PHONOLOGY. [§ 730.
'days/ burg 'city/ halga 'saint/ except in the combina-
tion ng, which was pronounced (ng), as in lang ' long/
singan ' sing.' g in the combination ng was a front stop,
this combination having the sound (nq), as in sgngan
' singe/ where the OE g has a sound very similar to that of
the MnE g in singe, eg had the sound (qq), as in brycg
' bridge/ where, again, the OE sound closely resembles the
(d5) of bridge-, the c in this digraph is intended to indi-
cate the front sound, the less frequent (gg) being
generally written gg, as in frogga ' frog/ Initial g also
had the sound (q), but seems also to have been pronounced
(j) : geard 'yard/ ' court/ genumen ' taken.' Non-initial g
had the sound (j), except in the combinations ng, eg ; dceg
(day), sggep ' says/ hgrgian ' ravage/
730. ^=(ks), but in many words it was originally pro-
nounced (xs), as in weaxan ' grow/
731. f, s, }> had the voice sounds (v, z, t$) between vowels
and between r, I and vowels, as in drifan ' drive/ freosan
' freeze/ eorpe ' earth/
732. Initial h had the same sound as in E. hw, as in hunt
1 white/ = (w/*). So also hi, hr, hn represented the voiceless
sounds of (1, r, n) respectively, as in hlud ' loud/ hring ' ring/
hnutu ' nut/ In hw etc. the h and the w were originally
pronounced separately. Non-initial h — ' strong h ' — had
the sound of (x) in Scotch, loch, as in purh ' through ' ; in
some words it had the sound of (Q) in German zch, especially
after a front vowel, as in gesihfi * sight/
733. r was always trilled, as in Scotch, c, g, w were
pronounced clearly before consonants in such words as
cndwan 'know/ gnagan 'gnaw/ wrltan ' write/ wlcec 'luke-
warm/
734. Double consonants were pronounced double, or
long, as in mann 'man' — distinct fromge'man'I remember/
where the n was quite short — sunne ' sun ' (the nn as in pen-
knife) distinct from sunu ' son/
§ 740.] OLD ENGLISH. 243
Stress.
735. In OE the general principle of word-stress is to put
the strong stress on the first syllable of a word, as in 'fiscas
' fishes/ 'fiscere ' fisher/ -ryhtwis ' rightly wise/ ' righteous/
'misdeed ( misdeed.'
736. In sentences, form-words and words of subordinate
meaning generally had weak stress, as in MnE; conjunctions,
such as and ' and/ prepositions, such as of ' of/ ' off/ on ' on/
and many other particles had weak stress, as also many of
the pronouns, such as ic ' I/ including the definite article se
1 the/ So also in separate words the inflectional and deriva-
tive elements were subordinated in stress to the body of the
word.
737. The stress of full-words themselves was often subor-
dinated to that of other full-words. In OE an adjunct-word
is generally put before the noun it modifies, and takes a
stronger stress than its head-word, as in the combination
adjective or genitive + noun : 'god :mann 'a good man/ 'gdde
:d(zda 'good deeds/ -fices 'cyninges :mnu ' the king's son.'
738. In compounds the same principle was followed : the
modifying word came first, and took the chief stress, as in
ryhtwis. So also the compound domdceg 'judgment-day' had
the same stress as domes dag ' day of judgment/ ' doomsday.'
But there are some exceptions to this rule of putting the
stress on the first element of compounds : —
739. Group-compounds of preposition + noun, such as the
adverbs of dune 'down/ literally ' ofF-the-hill/ as in he code
of dune ' he went down/ onboec ' back/ literally ' on-the-back/
td'dffg ' today/ were of course originally independent word-
groups in which the prepositions were without stress in accord-
ance with the general rule, so that the stress necessarily fell
on the succeeding noun.
740. Adverbs of full and distinct meaning are treated like
adjectives as regards stress, taking strong stress when followed
R 2
244 PHONOLOGY. [§741-
by another word with which they form a group, as in 'wide
geis'iene ' widely seen,' ' seen far and wide ' [compare the
compound widcup 'widely known]. So also when a verb
follows, as in 'inn :gdn ' go in/ 'bl :slandan ' stand by/ ' help/
But if the verb precedes, it takes the principal stress : he "code
:inn ' he went in/ he 'stod him bl ' he helped him.' When
these particles precede their verbs, they are felt to form com-
pounds with them through the group having the same stress as
compounds in general, so that we may write these groups as
single words — tnngdn, bislandan. But as these particles are, as
we see, liable to be separated from their verbs in other con-
structions, we call them separable particles.
741. But if these particles are compounded with nouns or
adjectives instead of verbs, they cannot be shifted, as in
-inngang 'going in/ 'entrance/ bispell 'by-tale/ 'parable/
whose elements can no more be separated than those of
ryhtw'is, etc.
742. In OE there is also a class of inseparable particles,
such as for- mforgiefan ' forgive/ which has no connection
with the preposition for ' for/ never occurring as an inde-
pendent word. These inseparable particles ought strictly
speaking to be regarded as derivative elements, like the un- in
•uncu]) ' unknown/ but as many of them lost their indepen-
dence only at a comparatively recent period in OE, it is
allowable to regard forgiefan, etc., as compounds. The in-
separable prefix be- in besgttan ' beset ' is, indeed, the same
word as the preposition be ' by/ although they have diverged
in meaning.
743. While abstract nouns compounded with inseparable
particles throw the stress on to the particle in the usual way,
as in "forwyrd ' destruction/ parallel to inngang, the corre-
sponding verbs take the stress on the verb itself, as in for-
"weorpan 'perish/ forgiefan. This shifting of stress is
often accompanied by phonetic weakening of the particle;
thus to the strong form of the prefix in 'blgang 'going
§ 747-1 OLD ENGLISH. 245
round/ ' cultivation/ ' worship ' corresponds the weak be- in
be-gdn ' go round/ ' cultivate/ etc., besgttan.
The explanation of this is that forwyrd, bigang, inngang, etc.,
were inseparable compounds already in Parent Germanic, at a
time when forweorfan, etc. were still separable compounds
like inn-gan. At that time the two elements of foriveorpan
etc. could stand in any order, and the principal stress could fall
either on the particle or the verb, according as the one or the
other was the more emphatic. After a time, some of the
prefixes, such as for-, became vague in meaning, so that they
lost not only their stress but their independence.
Quantity.
744. Long vowels in weak syllables were shortened in OE,
as in began (743). <
745. On the other hand short final strong vowels were
lengthened, as in hiva 'who//# 'thou' = Germanic hwa, pu.
Hence the short vowel of the unstressed article se in -se
mann ' the man ' is lengthened when the word is used in the
sense of ' he/ as in -se -J>e ' he who/
746. In Anglian, short vowels were lengthened before
vowel-like consonants followed by another consonant —
'group-lengthening' — as in aid 'old/ Igng 'long/ bllna
'blind/ dumb 'dumb'=Early West-Saxon eald, Igng, lang
blind, dumb. These lengthenings appear also in Late West-
Saxon.
Vowels.
747. a (o), se, ea. These vowels all correspond to
Germanic a, still preserved in Modern German; thus OE
mann, feeder, heard= German mann, vater, hart. Germanic
a in the Oldest E. was kept only before nasals, as in mann,
hand, lang. Everywhere else it was fronted to ce, as in
wees ' was/ acer ' field/ fader. Before ' group r and // that
is, before r and / followed by a consonant, and before strong
h the voice-glide (a) was developed, as in E. (hiarirj) § 711,
which afterwards by phonetic divergence developed into full
246 PHONOLOGY. [§ 748-
(a), as in heard, earm ' arm ' ; eall, eald { old ' ; geseah ' saw,'
eahia 'eight/ weaxan (730). Before a back vowel in the
next syllable & became the back vowel a, as in dagas ( days/
dagum ' to days ' dat., compared with dcrg ' day/ gen. dceges.
These are the West- Saxon forms. In Anglian a before
nasals became g — as also often in Early West-Saxon — and a
before group / became a, so that the Anglian forms are mgnn,
h$nd (746), Igng ; heard, etc. ; all, did (746).
748. i, e, eo. In Germanic, e before group-nasals became
i, whence OE bindan ' bind/ singan ' sing ' compared with
helpan 'help/ In OE itself e also became i before single
nasals, as in niman ' take ' compared with stelan ' steal/ The
vowel in such words as witan ' know ' is Germanic and Arian
i. In OE e before group r became eo much in the same way
as a became ea (747), as in steorra ' star/ eorpe. e, i became
eo, io before a back — especially a back round — vowel in the
next syllable, as in heofon ' heaven/ diopian ' call/ the forms
he/on, clipian also occurring.
For the change of weak eo into ea, a, as in (e)am=eom 'am/
see § 1067.
749. u, o. In Germanic, o became u before group-nasals,
and in OE itself o became u before single nasals, whence OE
gebunden ' bound ' compared with geholpen ' helped/ genumen
( taken ' compared with gesiolen c stolen/ In such a word as
sunu ' son/ the u s are Germanic and Arian.
750. The Germanic vowel a is preserved in West-Saxon,
as in far ' danger/ cefen ' evening/ being narrowed to e in
Anglian and Kentish— ^2r, efen.
MUTATION.
751. Mutation is the influence exercised by a vowel on the
vowel of a preceding syllable, by which the first vowel is
modified in the direction of the second one. Thus in OE
gecoren ' chosen ' = Old High German gikoran, compared with
§753-1 OLD ENGLISH. 247
OE curun later curon ' they chose/ u has been lowered to o
by the influence of the a. This is therefore an ^-mutation
of u.
752. But the most important mutations in OE are the
front mutations, caused by Germanic i and j, which after
they had caused the mutation were generally lost or modified
in OE. In these mutations the influence of the i or/ on the
vowel was not direct ; the i or j first front-modified the
preceding consonant, which in its turn influenced the pre-
ceding vowel; thus OE gnde 'end' from Germanic andio
passed through the following stages : (an/d/i, enjdfi), gndi,
gnde. In most cases these fronted consonants were unfronted
after they had modified the preceding vowel, as we see in the
case of gnde. But the fronted c and g — which we write c, g
— were kept, as in wrgcca { exiled man/ which is our MnE
word wretch^ compared with wracu 'state of exile/ wrecan
' drive/ sgcgan * say ' compared with sagu ' saying/ ' saw.'
753. The following are the mutations in their Early West-
Saxon forms : —
e . . . i. beran ' carry/ birep (Oldest E. birip) ' carries' ;
cwepan ( say/ cwide (Oldest E. cwidi] ' saying/ ' speech.'
a (ee) . . . 9. far an 'go/ ' travel/ fgrian 'convey'; mann
' man ' mgnn (Germanic manni) ' men.'
a ... se. hal 'whole/ 'sound/ hdlan 'heal'; an 'one/
&nig 'any.' This 'mutation d1 remains in the non- West-
Saxon dialects, which change Germanic ee into e. For con-
venience we will in future distinguish the West-Saxon
Germanic <z by writing it <$, as in &fm contrasted with
h<zlan. Mutated Germanic ce remains unchanged in West-
Saxon, as in titfe ' physician ' (Oldest E. /£#), d&d ' deed '
(Germanic 'dcedi), and becomes e in the other dialects : lece,
d'ed.
ea, eo . . . ie. eald ' old/ ieldra ' older/ niekt (Germanic
nahti) ' night ' ; heard ' herd ' hierde ' shepherd/ In Late
248 PHONOLOGY. [§ 754.
West-Saxon this ie becomes^ or i': yldra, m'ht, hyrde. In
Anglian the one ie appears as £, the other as i : gldra, jldra.
nght ; hirde (Oldest Anglian hirdi}.
ea, eo . . . ie. geleafa ' belief/ gelufan ' believe/ eaca
1 increase ' (noun), eac ' also/ ucan ' to increase ' ; geseon ' see/
geslene 'visible.' u in Late West-Saxon becomes^", J : gelyfan,
tcan,gesyne. In the other dialects it becomes e: gelefan, ecan,
gesene.
u . . . y. full 'full/ gefyllan ' to fill/ cyning f king/ y in
Late Kentish becomes e by lowering and unrounding, as in
gefellan.
u . . . y. cuj? ' known/ cyfran l proclaim/ mm ' mouse/
mys ' mice/ y becomes e in Late Kentish, as in mes.
o . . . CB. dohtor ' daughter/ dat. dcehter. ce was unrounded
into e in Late OE, the change beginning already in Early
West-Saxon : dehter. As Germanic o became u before i in
the same way as e became i (753), y is the most usual OE
mutation of o, as in gold1 gold/ gylden (older guldm) l golden/
fox ' fox,' fyxen ' vixen.'
6 ... oe. foda ( food/ /Sedan ' feed//J/ ' foot/y^/ ' feet/
<^ afterwards became e, the change beginning in Early West-
Saxon : fedan,fet.
CONSONANT INFLUENCE.
754. In West-Saxon the front glide between t, g and a
following vowel often developed into a full e forming a diph-
thong with the vowel.
755. C8B-, gse- passed through (cjse, ce'se, qjae, qe-ae) and
then by phonetic divergence and stress-shifting (ce-a, cea,
etc.) into cea-, gea-, as in sceal ' shall/ geaf l gave ' [compare
cwcep ' said '] = non- West-Saxon seed, g<zf. This ea was
mutated into ie in West- Saxon in such words as the noun dele
1 chill ' compared with calan ' be cold/ giest ' stranger/ [com-
pare German gast] = non- West-Saxon cgle, g§st.
756. cafe-, g&- became cea-, gea-, as in sceap ' sheep/ geaf on
§ 763.] OLD ENGLISH. 249
' they gave ' [compare cwddon < they said '] = non- West-Saxon
seep, gefon.
757. ce-, ge- became cie-, gie-, as in scield « shield,' giefan
' give ' [compare cwepan\ = non- West- Saxon sceld, sceld,
gefan.
758. Through similar changes £• followed by a diphthong
in West-Saxon often corresponds to Germanic jt which in
OE seems to have been made into the stop consonant (q), as
in gear ' year ' Anglian ger, geoc ' yoke/ geong ' young,' com-
pared with German jahr (•=
759. In Anglian, the back consonants c, h, g smooth a pre-
ceding diphthong, ea became GB, as in gesceh, wcexan=.
non- Anglian (West- Saxon and Kentish) geseah, weaxan. eo
became e, as mfehlan ' fight/ were ' work ' (noun) — where, as
is often the case, the influence of the back consonant passes
through an intervening vowel-like consonant — =West Saxon
feohtan, weorc. ea, eo became /, as in ec, ege ' eye/ heh ' high/
flegan ' to fly '= West- Saxon eac\ eage, heah, fleogan.
760. w often changes a following eo into o or u, especially
in Late OE, as in siveosfor 'sister/ later swustor, sweord, sword,
swurd ' sword/
Consonants.
761. In OE h between vowels or between vowel-like con-
sonants and vowels was dropped, often with lengthening of the
preceding vowel, as \nfurh 'furrow/ dat. plur.furum, Wealh
* foreigner/ ' Welshman/ plur. Wealas, Wealas, Wielisc
1 Welsh/ When two vowels came together in this way, they
were often made into a diphthong, as in geseon ' see ' from
*geseohan [compare geseah ' saw '].
762. Open g, g became h before a breath consonant, as
in lyht ' bending ' [bugan ' bend '].
763. Final open g was also unvoiced in Late West-Saxon,
as in troh ( trough/ gendh ' enough/ burh — earlier trog,gendg,
burg.
250 PHONOLOGY. [§ 764.
764. r is often transposed, as in iernan ' run ' — the original
form being preserved in gerinnan ' run together/ ' coagulate '
— especially in Late Northumbrian, as in pirda ' third ' =
West- Saxon pridda [compare preo ' three '].
765. s is often transposed in the sajne way, as in Late
West-Saxon dxian ' ask/ cirps ' curly '= earlier dsct'an, crisp.
766. r in some words does not correspond to Germanic r
but to a Germanic modification of s, as in w&ron l were '
compared with wees t was/ gecoren ' chosen/ eyre ' choice '
compared with ceosan ' choose/ So also g and d often
represent Germanic modifications of h and p respectively, as
in cwcedon, civide compared with cwefian, slag en ' struck/
slaga ' slayer ' compared with slean [from *sleahan\ ' strike/
' kill/ These changes are the result of weak stress of the
syllable containing s, J>, h in Early Germanic. Hence we
call the resulting r 'weak r' to distinguish it from r— Ger-
manic r, and so with the other consonants.
767. / in the combinations tp, dp, sp becomes /, to which
a preceding d is assimilated giving the combinations //, st, as
in Early West- Saxon bitt^bltep 'bites' and bidep 'waits/
ciest ' chooses ' from ceosan. We occasionally find pat tcet
written instead of pat pat, showing that consonants in sepa-
rate words were assimilated, pcette ' that ' (conjunction) is
regularly written so, being equivalent to facet }>e.
768. Double consonants in OE often represent a* Germanic
single consonant +/, as in sgllan ' give ' scgtyan ' injure/
sgttan ' set ' = Gothic sal/an, skapjan, satjan, the single conso-
nant appearing in such forms as sglep, scgpep, sgtep ' he gives/
etc., which point to older *salip, etc. Germanic kj, gj, fj
appear in OE respectively as cc, eg and dd, as in wrgcca
' one exiled/ Igcgan ' lay/ hgbban ' raise ' compared with wracu
1 state of exile/ Iceg ' he lay/ hafen ' raised/ Germanic rj, on
the other hand, appears as ri in OE, as in dgrian ' injure '
[cp. daru ' injury '].
769. In OE itself c, /, p are often doubled before r and /,
§ 770.1 OLD ENGLISH. 251
as in biter, litter ' bitter ' [cp. bitan ' bite '], appel ' apple* [cp.
apulder ' apple-tree '], n&dre, n&ddre ' serpent/ fod(d]or
' food ' ; and in the later forms miccle plur. of micel ' great/
deoppra adj., deoppor adv. ' deeper.'
Gradation.
770. By gradation we understand certain traditional con-
nections between the vowels — most clearly shown in the conju-
gation of the ' strong ' verbs — which enable us to classify
them under the following gradation- series : —
a ... 6. far an ' proceed/y<?r ' proceeded ' ; for 'journey/
gefcera, gefera ' companion.'
e (i, eo) ... a (se, ea) . . . u (o). windan ' wind/ wand
' he wound/ wundon ' they wound ' ; wgndan ' turn.' beran
1 carry/ bar, boren ; byr-pen ' burden.' beorgan 'protect/ bearg,
burgon, geborgen ; beorg ' mountain/ burg ' fortress/ ' city/
borg ' pledge/ ' security/ borgian ' borrow.'
a (se, ea) . . . se. bar ' he carried/ bdron ' they carried' ;
b&r ' bier/ sprac ' he spoke/ spr&con ' they spoke ' ; sprcec
' speech/
i ... a ... i. writan ' write/ wrat ' he wrote/ writon ' they
wrote ' ; gewrit ' writing ' (noun), belifan ' remain ' ; laf
' residue/ ' remains/ whence by mutation Id/an ' leave.'
eo (u) . . . ea . . . u (o). ceosan ' choose/ ceas ' he chose/
curon ' they chose/ gecoren ' chosen ' ; eyre ' choice/ for-
leosan ' lose ' ; leas ' devoid of/ a-liesan ' release ' ; losian ' be
lost/ ' perish/ bugan ' bend/ ' bow/ beag, bugon, gebogen ;
beag, ' ring ' ; boga ' bow ' (noun), byht ' bending/
These vowel-relations are the result of a variety of compli-
cated changes in Germanic and Arian, their ultimate cause being
shifting of stress and variations of intonation in Parent Arian.
Thus in the pret. pi. and past participles the root-vowels
were without stress in Arian ; hence the short vowels in
-writen, curon, -coren, -bogen—andi also in geivrit, boga, etc. —
PHONOLOGY.
[§771.
are weakenings of the diphthongs and long vowels in writan,
ceosan, bugan, where they had full stress.
Hence also the weakened vowels are associated with weak
r) g> d (768), as in curon compared with ceosan.
.11
J
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
Orthography.
771. In the ME period the OE was superseded by the
Old French orthography — Norman at first, but afterwards
Parisian.
772. Old French orthography was founded on the tra-
ditional pronunciation of Latin ; but by the time French was
first written down — probably in the'Qth century — the tradition
of the Old Latin pronunciation had been partially lost.
773. In the Qth century pronunciation of Latin, y had lost
its old value, having been unrounded into (i), and so had
come to be a mere orthographic variant of i. So when
Latin u was fronted to (yy) in French, as in lune (lyyna)
from Latin liina, the u was kept as the symbol of the new
sound (y). And when the French orthography was intro-
duced into England, the sound of OE y was represented by
u, which we write U to distinguish it from ME u = OE u.
Hence in early Southern ME sunne { sun' and siinne ( sin ' =
OE synn were written alike. In Old French there was a diph-
thong #z'=(yi), which in Anglo-French was smoothed into (yy),
and so was used — together with simple u — to express (yy)
not only in French words, such as fruit, friit ' fruit,' but also
in E. words, such as futr, fUr ' fire,' builden ' build ' = OE
fyr> lyldan, byldan.
774. y, being thus superfluous, was almost completely
disused for a time in Early ME, but in Late ME — as in Late
Old French — it was written in many cases instead of i; because
§ 778.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 253
i was written without any dot, and so was liable to be mis-
taken for a part of another letter, especially n, m, u. Hence
it became usual to write y in such words as bynden, zvyues=
OE bindan, wlfes. It also became usual to write y at the end
of words, as in many, dqy= Early ME mam', dai.
775. In Early Norman French o in many words had a
sound between close (o) and (u), and as u represented the
sound (y) as well as (u) in ME as in French, it was found
convenient to use o for the sound (u) — in which case we
write it o — especially in combination with such letters as n,
m,u(= v) where u would cause graphic confusion, as in comen
'come,' loue <love' = OE cuman, lufu\ also before single
consonants followed by a vowel, as in bote 'but/ corage
'courage,' because the earlier ME spellings bute, curage
seemed to suggest (yy).
776. In Late Parisian the older diphthong (ou) was
smoothed into (uu), as in douz (duuts) ' sweet/ and so ou
was introduced into Late ME as the symbol of (uu), as in
hous = earlier hus = OE hits ' house/ the actual sound re-
maining unchanged.
777. In Late Latin e was written instead of ae, oe, which
fell into disuse, the classical caelum, poena, for instance, being
written celum, pena ; and so in Old French e was used to
express open as well as close (e), and this usage passed into
ME. We write the long ME open sound / to distinguish
did ' dead ' from ded ' deed/ the latter having the close sound.
So also we express the long open o by jj, as in sign ' stone '
distinguished from mom ' moon/ the two sounds not being
generally distinguished — any more than the two e s — in ME
orthography. The Old French diphthong ie was smoothed
into close (ee) in Anglo-French, and so came to express the
latter sound in such words as meschief ' mischief/ //£/"' dear/
778. In Parisian French, Latin c = (k) before front
vowels, as in ciel> passed through (ts) into (s). In some cases
it developed into (t|), which combination was expressed by
254 PHONOLOGY. [§ 779.
ch, as in chien. Latin g=(g) became 'soft* (3$) before front
vowels, as in geste ' exploit ' from Latin gesta. Latin j = (j)
also developed into (d5), as mj&=Latinjam. Latin qv,gv
= (kw, gw) soon dropped their (w) in Old French, so that qu,
gu came to be regarded as symbols of ' hard ' (k, g) respec-
tively, especially before front vowels, as in qut, langue from
Latin qvi, tingva, the former being also expressed by
k—ki.
779. Hence in ME the old c was written k before front
vowels, as in king, as also when doubled, as in pikke ' thick/
cw being expressed by the Early Old French qu, as in quene
' queen ' = OE cwen. c was kept before back vowels and
generally before consonants, as in cumen, comen, cljne ' clean/
The ME development of OE c having nearly the sound
of French ch, this digraph was used to express it, as in
chirche = OE cirice. c = (s) was used only in French words,
such as face.
780. In ME the difference in form between the OE 5
(724) and the French g was utilized phonetically. The
letter g was assigned to (g), as in god ( good/ and the soft
French g, as in geste ' exploit/ and also to the ME develop-
ment of OE stopped g, which had nearly the sound of (ds),
as in sengen ' singe/ brtgge * bridge ' = OE sgngan, brycg.
Hard g was also expressed by the French gu, as it still is in
tongue = OE tunge. j = (dg) was written only in French
words, such zsjuggen 'judge/ 5, on the other hand, was
restricted to the open sounds, both back and front, as in
da^es, %ung = OE dagos, geong, the latter sound being after-
wards expressed by^>, as in MnE : yong, young.
781. After much fluctuation OE strong // was written ght
as in right, doghter.
782. Latin 0 still kept its sound (dz) in Early Old French
— where it was also used to express (ts), as in douz ' sweet'—
and did not become simple (z) till a later period. Hence it is
not till the end of the ME period that they began to write 0
§786.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 255
instead of s = (z) in E. words, as in wezele ' weazel/ generally
written wesele.
783. The Latin sound (w), which was expressed indiffer-
ently by the angular v or the round u, became (v) in Old
French, the old symbol being kept, so u, v became the
symbol of voiced OE_/~in ME, as in luve = OE lufu. The
sound (w) was introduced again into Old French from Old
German in such words as warde, from Old Low German
war da (=OE weard 'custody'), developing into (gw), later
(g) in Parisian — guarde. In those Old French dialects which
kept German (w) it was expressed by two angular us joined
together, whence we still call the ligature ' double u.' In
ME w soon superseded the OE p (724). As w in OE maw
'snow' was practically an (u), in ME w came into general
use in diphthongs, as in snow, how = OEM, the ow = (u\i) in
the latter being only a written diphthong.
784. The other Runic letter / was used throughout the
ME period, but the digraph th soon came into use to express
the voice as well as the breath sound of/, as in brjpen^
brethen (bre&n) ' breathe,' brjfi, breth (br^f>) ' breath.' In
Old French th was written only in learned words, proper
names, etc., and had the sound (t), which it often kept in ME
as well ; we still pronounce such words as Thomas with a (t),
as in ME. Old French />/$=(f) was also used only in
learned words and names, f being often substituted for it ; it
was used in ME in such learned words as phisik ' physic,'
also written /«£.
Stress.
785. In ME the noun- and adjective-prefixes al-y mis-, un-
throw the stress forward, as in almihii, mis'ded, uwciip ' un-
known ' = OE '(zlmihtig, 'misdeed, 'tmcufi.
786. In Old French the stress generally fell on the same
syllable as in Latin, as in na'ture — Latin nd'turam. Through
256 PHONOLOGY. [§ 787.
the dropping of final Latin syllables many French words
thus came to have the stress on the last syllable, as in o'nour
=ho'norem, pi'te=pie'tatem. When first introduced into ME
French words kept their original stress : na'tfire, oinur, pi'te ;
but such words afterwards threw the stress back on to the
first syllable by the analogy of the native E. words, such as
•fader, 'bodi, becoming 'nature, etc.
787. In longer French words, where it would have been
inconvenient to throw the stress back to the first syllable, it
was drawn back from the end to the middle of the word, as
in sove'reynete, con'dicioun (k0n'disiuun) and the other words
in -ioun = Latin -ionem.
788. Many words of French origin compounded with
particles, such as avow (a'vuu), defense^ disuse (dis'^za), keep
their original stress by the analogy of native words such as
a'risen, be'cumen.
Quantity.
789. The first quantity-change that took place in ME
was the lengthening of OE short consonants after a short
strong vowel, so that OE in ' in ' and inn ' dwelling ' were
levelled under the latter form ; and as it was no longer neces-
sary to mark the distinction, the OE double consonants were
written single, as in at, man-=.QQ eall, mann. But double
consonants before vowels were kept in ME in pronunciation
as well as spelling, so that, for instance, sunne 'sun' = OE
sunne was kept distinct from sum ' son ' = OE sunu, these two
words never rhyming on one another in verse.
790. The OE group-lengthenings were kept up in ME, as
in gld, Igng, blind, dumb, doumb=Q\d Anglian did, Igng, blind,
dumb. Otherwise OE long vowels were generally shortened
before two consonants, as in askien, wisdom [compare ME
wis ' wise '], kepte ' kept ' pret. = OE dscian, wisdom, cepte.
But length was often preserved before st, as in Ijst ' least,' prest
1 priest ' = OE last, preost.
§ 794-1 MIDDLE ENGLISH. 257
In the transition from ME to MnE the long vowels before
ng and mb were shortened, whence MnE long, young (j^rj),
dumb compared with old (ould), blind (blaind). Hence also
OE -anc, -gnc appears as -ank in MnE, while OE -ang, -gng
appears as -ong, as in tan£=OE hlanc compared with long= OE
long.
791. In Late ME short vowels before a single consonant
followed by another vowel were lengthened, as in name, mjte
' meat/ brgken ( broken ' = Early ME name, mete, ibroken = OE
nama, mgte,gebrocen. We call these lengthened vowels ' new-
longs ' as opposed to the ' old-longs ' in such words as win
1 wine ' = OE win. But the high vowels i, u, u were never
lengthened, as in writen ' written/ dude ' did/ sum = OE
gewriten, dyde, sunu.
792. Vowels were not lengthened in final strong syllables,
as in smal, swan, y of ' gave/ God=OE smccl, swan,geaf, God,
because the final consonants had already been lengthened
(789).
793. Short vowels are often preserved in Late as well as
Early ME before a single consonant followed by the full
vowel /, as in mani, pent, bodi, or weak e + a vowel-like conso-
nant (r, 1, n, m), as in hamer,feter, coper ; sadel, hovel] seven,
troden, all of which still have short vowels in Present English.
This is called back-shortening. Originally long vowels are
sometimes back-shortened in ME, as in laper from OE leapor.
But there are several exceptions to the general principle of
back-shortening, as in Late ME dker, crddel, s/plen = QJL cecer,
cradol, gestolen.
The explanation of back-shortening is that the lengthening
is shifted from the strong vowel to the final / or the vowel-like
consonant, just as in Present English pity is often lengthened
into (p/tw) [944].
Vowels.
794. In ME the OE weak vowels are generally levelled
under e, especially when final: ME name, beren, sune=GE,
VOL. i. s
258 PHONOLOGY. [§ 795-
nama, beran, sunu. There was a tendency to drop weak e
altogether after another weak syllable, as in ladi, ' lady' from
OE hlafdige.
795. Many words which in OE end in a consonant, take
final e in ME, which they get from the OE inflected forms ;
thus ME quene ' queen ' comes not from the OE nom. sing.
cwen, but from the ace.' Sing, cwene, plur. nom. cwena, etc.
Other examples are sinne ' sin/ dale ' valley,' bede ' prayer '
= OE synn, dee!, gebed, plurals synna, dalu, gebedu. Such
forms as narwe ' narrow/ yelwe 'yellow' = OE nearu, geolu,
plurals nearwe, geolwe arose in the same way.
796. a. In the strong vowels the most marked and
earliest change is the smoothing of the OE diphthongs, shown
in Late ME hard, sterre ' star,' brjd ' bread,' dep ' deep '=OE
heard, steorra, bread, deop.
797. In Early ME ea became (ae), which was generally
written e, as in herd, wes=OE heard, WCES. This broad (se)
was then still further broadened to (a), giving Late ME hard,
was. OE a was kept throughout in such words as man,
faren=OlL mann,faran. ME -a in such words as al, half,
comes from Anglian all, half, not from West-Saxon eall, healf.
798. i, ii. In North-Thames E. i corresponds not only
to OE /, as in smijy = OE smip, but also to OE y, as in sinne,
dide. But (y) was still preserved in the Southern dialect, as in
siinne, diide, being represented by e in Middle as well as Old
Kentish, as in senne. The London dialect generally has /=
OEj/, but some words have the Southern, and the few the
Kentish forms : sinne, biisi, kernel=QE, synn, bysig 'occupied,'
cyrnelf kernel.' In some words (y) was broadened to (u),
especially after lip-consonants, as in worien ' worry/ moche
' much ' = OE wyrgan,- my eel, micel.
799. e. OE close (e) became open (e) in Early ME, so
that OE e and / were levelled under the latter sound, which
we write simply * in ME, as in helpen, eten, rest, mete=OE
helpan, elan ; rgst, mgte. OE eo also became open e in Late
§ 804.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 259
ME, as merfie, hevene. All these <?s are liable to be lengthened
in Late ME (791), as in jten, mjte.
800. u. OE u was kept unchanged in ME, as in sune.
801. o. OE close o became open in Early ME, as in
folk, nose, bodien ' proclaim '= OE folc, nosu, bodtan, being
liable to lengthening in Late ME, as in ngse, bgdten.
802. The OE long vowels i, e, <z, u, o were generally pre-
served unchanged in ME, e, a being also the representatives
of OE eo, ea respectively (796) : win, kene ' bold/ dep, sj' sea,'
hjved ' head/ hits, hous, god ' good ' = OE win, cene, deop, see,
heafod, hus, god. So also W£fmden,feld ' field/ hund ' dog/
word ' word' = Anglian fmdan,f eld, hund, word (746). I
is sometimes the result of raising Anglian e before open g and
front h, as in u 'eye/ hih ' high ' = Old Anglian ege, heh, West-
Saxon eage, heah, the open^-=(j) being absorbed. So also
open g was absorbed in ME by a preceding u or u, as infuel
'bird/ buen later bowen * bend ' = OE fugol, bugan. It is
to be observed that ME e represents not only the common
OE £~in cene, but also the Anglian <?= West-Saxon & and u,
as in even 'evening/ dede ' deed/ her en 'hear/ isene *seen'=
West-Saxon of en, dad, hieran,gesiene. But j=& is frequent
before and after r, as in drgden ' dread/ ]>$r ' there/ w$ren
'were '= West-Saxon on'drcedan,J?&r, wceron.
803. In South-Thames E. d and & when shortened pass
through a into a, while in Northern not only Anglian e=&
but also d shorten to e, Midland generally showing the same
tendency. Hence such words as OE hlafdige ' lady/ Iccdde
' led/ n&ddre ' serpent/ ondr&dde ' feared ' appear in Southern
as lavedi, ladi, ladde. naddre, dradde, in Northern as lefdi^ ledi,
ledde, neddre, dredde. But Southern has e in some words,
such 2&flesh=.Q}fL flizsc.
804. OE a remained unchanged in the Northern dialect,
as in gd 'go/ s/dn = OE gan, stan. In South-Thames E.,
and to a great extent in Midland, it was rounded into broad
s 2
260 PHONOLOGY. [§805.
2'- g$, st$n. So also in lgng=OE lang. This change took
place before the introduction of such French words as dame,
corage, which therefore kept their a in South-Thames E. as
well as Northern.
805. OEJ7 became z in North-Thames E., as also in the
London dialect, but was preserved in the Southern dialect,
as in fUr ( fire/ kupen ' make known ' = OE fyr, cyfian,
which also preserved Late West-Saxon y= older ie, as in
hUren ' hear/ brUsen ' bruise ' = Early West-Saxon hieran,
briesan. Kentish kept its e, as in mes ' mice/ U was brought
into London E. in French words containing u, ui, as in due,
cure,fruit,frilt ; when final or before a vowel it became eu,
as is shown by such spellings as vertew, crewel =verlu, cruel.
806. Most of the ME diphthongs are the result of the
weakening of OE w and open g and g after vowels, w and
open g becoming u, as in dju, dew, drauen=OE deaw,
dragan, open g becoming i, as in wei ' way * = OE weg. The
glide between a back vowel and a following h developed into
diphthongic u, which was sometimes written, sometimes not,
as in broghte, broughte ' brought ' = OE brohte. The follow-
ing are the ME diphthongs :—
ai=OE cpgt as in dat, saide *said' = OE dcrg, scegde.
ei=OE eg, gg, as in wet, hide ' laid ' = OE weg, Iggde.
ei=OE eg, as in Mi 'hay' = OE keg. grei= Anglian
greg, West-Saxon gr&g. But OE eg generally becomes I in
ME (802).
fi=OE ceg, as in kjie ' key *-=.cceg.
oi occurs only in French words, such as /<?/>, vots.
au=OE ag, as in drauen. In such words as laughter from
Scandinavian hlahtr it is the result of glide-development. In
words of French origin au corresponds sometimes to Old
French au, as in cause, sometimes to Old French nasal a
before a nasal consonant, as in chaumbre, servaunt=Q\d
French chambre (tjaa/zmbra), etc., the spellings chambre, etc.
§ 8o8.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 2,6l
without u occurring also in ME, where the pronunciation
varied between pure (aaw) and (au), which was an E. imita-
tion of the former.
eu=OE ew, eozv, as in newe ' new '=Old Anglian neowe,
West-Saxon niwe. French U had this sound in certain cases
(805).
fu=OE aw, eaw, as in dgu.
ou=OE ow, og, as in tow, dowe=OE tow, boga.
ou=OE ow, as in stou 'place/ blowen ' bloom ' = OE
stow, blowan. In Early ME this diphthong also results from
the development of a glide before h, as in induh — also
written inoh — ' enough,' from OE genoh, earlier genog (763) ;
this on becomes uu in late ME : ynough (i'nuux).
911 =OE aw, dg, as in blgwen 'blow' (wind), given
' own ' = OE bldwan, dgen.
807. In the above description of the ME vowel-system,
vowels of foreign origin have been referred to only when
they offer peculiarities of their own. The other vowels
which were introduced in foreign words were identified with
the native vowels, and went through the same changes in the
later periods of the language. Thus (uu) in ME crime
' crown/ where it is of French origin, and in dun ' feathers/
' down/ where it is of Scandinavian origin, went through the
same changes as the (uu) in hus. So also the ME diphthong
(ei) in obeien ' obey/ where it is of French origin, and in
heilen ' greet/ where it is of Scandinavian origin, is entirely
on a level with the native diphthong in wei. These remarks
apply also to the consonants.
Consonants.
808. In Old French h was silent in most words of Latin
origin — being often dropped in writing as well as pronun-
ciation— but was always pronounced in certain words —
262 PHONOLOGY. [§809.
mostly of German origin — which, of course, kept their h
when imported into ME both in spelling and pronunciation,
the silent French h being sometimes written, sometimes not,
but never pronounced. ME had silent French h in such
words as onur, honour, hour, horrible.
809. OE hr-, hi-, hn- became voiced in ME, as in ring,
lud, note ; hw- was kept, being written wh, as in what.
The change of hr to r, etc. was not a phonetic weakening,
but was a process of levelling, the few words beginning with hr,
etc. being absorbed, as it were, into the much larger group of
words beginning with the voiced sounds, hw was preserved
because of its occurrence in some very frequent words, such as
what, when.
810. The hisses were voiced initially in all native words
in South-Thames E., as shown by such spellings as volk,
zingen, but not in French words, such as fjsfe ' feast,' sauf
' safe/ because this change had been carried out before the
introduction of French words. Southern v was introduced
into the London dialect in a few words, such as m'xen = OE
fyxen, feminine oifox, vat— Q1L feet ( vessel.'
811. OE c and stopped g developed into the compound
consonants (c£, qj) — that is, nearly into thei^ MnE sounds
(tj, 65) — as in child, sengen, OE cc, eg being written cch,
gg=(cc$, qqj), as in wrecche, seggen 'say' = OE wrgcca,
sgcgan.
812. Open OE g was rounded into (giv), which passed
into (w) and then (u) (806). w;=OE g was kept after a con-
sonant, as mfolwen ( follow '•=.&& folgian.
813. Strong h was rounded into (xw) in the same way,
as shown by its influence on preceding vowels (806). As
final h in ME often corresponded to medial w in such pairs
as inbh sing., indwe plur.=Late OE gendh, genoge, OE final
h was changed into w when an e was added — as was fre-
quently the case (795) : thus ME furwe ' furrow/ holwe
' hollow ' = OE furh, holh. When final e was dropped at
§82i.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 263
the end of the ME period, a resulting final w was changed
to u : folu, holu.
814. Open g was generally weakened to i after consonants
as well as in diphthongs: burien 'bury,' beli ' belly ' = OE
byrgan, fylg.
815. Final OE front h was voiced in ME when a vowel
was added; thus hih 'high' has pi. hi^e, hie (802), from
which a new uninflected form hi was formed.
816. In OE the Anglian dialects seem to have changed
medial c, g to c, g before a back vowel, as in Anglian secan=
West- Saxon sedan. Hence in ME we often find North-
Thames k, as in seke, corresponding to South-Thames ch, as
in seche, MnE having the Northern form in seek, the Southern
in beseech. So also MnE cold, gall point to Anglian cdld,
galle, chalk to Southern cealc.
817. Scandinavian words keep their (k) and (g), as in
ketel ' kettle/ gerfi ' girth.' The Northern forms mikel 'great,'
give, etc. ,= Southern miichel,yiven, may also be due to Scan-
dinavian influence.
818. In some cases the fluctuation between the two
classes of consonants is due to change of vowel in inflection.
Thus the Standard ME gate ' gate ' points to the OE pi.
ga/u, the Northern yate to the sing. (Anglian) gcet. So also
beginnen^QE. beginnan owes its g to the pret. and past
partic. begann, begunnen.
819. ng kept its (g) not only in such words as finger,
English, but also in sing, singer, etc.
820. sc passed through (sj) into (J), written sch, ssh, sh, as
in short, shrud, fish=Q^L scort, scrud, fisc. Scandinavian sk
was kept before all vowels, as in skin, skt= Icelandic sky
' cloud.'
821. The combinations Ir, nr are made into Idr, ndr in
ME by making the second half of the / and n into a stopped
consonant, so as to facilitate the transition to the r, as in
alder (the tree), frunder from OE aler genitive alre, fiunor
264 PHONOLOGY. [§ 822.
genitive ]>unres. So also ml became mil mfombel ' thimble*
from OE J>ym(e)le ' thumbstall/ literally ' little thumb/ from
puma ' thumb/
822. Several of the consonants were liable to be dropped
in weak syllables. Thus to the strong ich .' I ' = OE it there
corresponded a weak J, which in Late ME almost supplanted
the strong ich. Weak final n was frequently dropped, as in
game, bmde infin., ibunde past partic.=OE gamen, bindan,
gebunden. So also the dropping of / in muche^OlL micel,
jch=OE die 'each/ of the w and / in such=O'E swelc,
seems to have begun in weak (unstressed) forms of these
words.
§ 822.]
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
26:1
ENGLISH VOWELS.
OE
• ME
PE
mann
man
msen
sset
sat
sset
heard
hard
haad
nama
name
neim
witan
witen
wit
helpan
helpen
help
heofon
hevene
hevn
stelan
stflen
stijl
sgttan
setten
set
mete
mfte
mijt
sunu
sune
ran
synn
sinne
sin
oxa
oxe
oks
open
£pen
oupn
stan
stgn
stoun
dSl
dfl
dijl
dream
drgm
drijm
win
win
wain
grene
grene
grijn
deop
dep
dijp
hus
hils
haus
mod
mod
muwd
*yr
fir
faiar
266
PHONOLOGY.
[§822,
MODERN ENGLISH VOWELS.
ME
fMn
sMn
thMn
PE
• s •
f£0t — 1 "7 TO
t
(
man
se, a
X
se
X
path
x, a
XX
XX
aa
i '
wit
i
i
i
i
e
end
e
e
e
e
u
son
u
A
V
•Q
0
ox
0
y
y
y
a
name
xx, aa
ee
ee
e\
I
wine
ai
ai
ai
ai
e
green
ii
ii
11 1
y
1
deal
ee
ee
ee, ii $
u
house
Ou
90
au
au
0
moon
UU
UU
UU
ww
9
stone
00
oo
00
ou.
ai
day
ai, ee
sei, ee \
ee
e\
ei
they
e'\, ee
ee i
oi
boil
oi, ui
oi, Ai
oi, si
oi
au
saw
au, yy
99
00
00
eu (u)
new
yy(u), iu
yy> iu )
juu
jww
|u
few
eu
eu, iu )
on
grow \
ou
ou, oo
00
ou
911
knovv )
§ 824.] MODERN ENGLISH. 267
MODERN ENGLISH SOUND-CHANGES.
823. The sound-changes in MnE are so great that their
history requires a threefold division of the period into
First MnE .... 1500-1600
Second MnE .... 1600-1700
Third MnE .... 1700-
These divisions are necessarily somewhat arbitrary. In
reality, First MnE extended some way into the following
century.
Orthography.
824. In First MnE weak e was generally dropped — always
when final — as in (naam, fal, st00nz)=ME name, falle(ri),
stjjnes. At the same time double consonants between vowels
were shortened, as in (Jilirj, fubr, sitirj) = ME shilling, fuller,
sittinge. But as the doubling served to show that the pre-
ceding vowel was short, the ME spellings were retained, and
the doubling was extended to words which in ME had a
single consonant, as in penny, herring, copper = ME pern,
hering, coper. Final e being now silent was often omitted in
writing, so that such words as ME belle were written bell
with a final double consonant, which led to a frequent
doubling of final ME consonants to show shortness of the
preceding vowel, as in all, small, glass =ME al, smal, glas.
But this doubling was not carried out uniformly. So as the
dropping of final e in such words as hate (haat), hope (hoop)=
ME hatien, hypien would have led to confusion with such
words as hat, hop, final e was kept in them, and came at last
to be regarded as a mark of the length of the preceding
vowel ; and accordingly was added to many words which
had no final e in ME, as in wine, stone, foe=ME win, stgn,
fo. e was always kept after v whether the preceding vowel
was long or short, because v was generally written u, and
268 PHONOLOGY. [§825.
such a word as loue—M'E love, would have been mistaken for
low if the e had been dropped.
825. The writing of y for i was carried to great lengths
in Early MnE. y or ie was always written finally as in many,
manie, citie, but otherwise the two letters were written almost
at random.
This use of -ie is the result of the weakening of ME - tern
such words as melodte ' melody,' chivalrie, which at the end of
the ME period drew back the stress from the ending (787), so
that the final e was dropped and the i shortened, and the ending
was written indifferently -ie or -y.
826. The close and open ME vowel-pairs <?, / and o, g
diverged more and more in sound in Early MnE, so that it
became necessary to distinguish them in writing. In ME ee,
oo were used to express the close and open sounds indis-
criminately, but in Early MnE they were gradually restricted
to the close sounds, as in see, moon=M'E se, mone, OE seo(n),
mona, the open sounds being expressed by the addition of
the open vowel a, as in sea, boat = ME sj, bgt, OE s&, bat.
The latter sound was, however, more frequently expressed
by single o with length-^ after the following consonant, as in
stone. Single e + length-*?, on the other hand, expressed the
close sound, especially in less familiar words, such as com-
plete, extreme, ee being rarely written in such words.
827. In Early MnE i and /, u and v were still written
almost indifferently both as vowels and consonants, so that,
for instance, us, vine, join, could be written vs, nine, ioyne ;
but an arbitrary distinction began to be made, by which
descending * and angular u were used only as consonants, as
at present. This reform came from Italy through France.
828. In First MnE the orthography was still quite un-
settled, but after a time it was found more convenient to keep
one spelling for each word, even when there were differences
of pronunciation ; and as the number of books and readers
increased, the fixed orthography adopted by printers became
§ SSL] MODERN ENGLISH. 2,6$
more and more general, till in the Third MnE period it
settled down into its present shape, except in a few isolated
words such as cloathes, tyger, which in the beginning of the
present century were made into clothes, tiger.
829. But as the sounds of the language went on changing
with even greater rapidity than before, the difficulty of master-
ing the traditional spelling has increased year by year ; so
that although a knowledge of the standard orthography is
the main test of education and refinement, few even of the
upper classes have a perfect mastery of it.
830. We express this divergence between spelling and
pronunciation by calling the present English spelling un-
phonetic. The orthography of Old English was, on the
contrary, a phonetic one — in intention, at least, and as far
as the defects of the Roman alphabet on which it was based
would allow. Thus in OE the letter i was used to express
the vowel (i) short and long, and was used to express that
sound only, while in the unphonetic MnE orthography it
expresses such distinct sounds as (i, ai, ij), as in bit, bite,
machine. But as the Latin alphabet does not provide enough
letters for the OE sounds, it was necessary to use the same
letter to express a variety of sounds, as when s was used to
express (z) as well as (s), g, especially, being used to express
a considerable number of distinct sounds (729). Middle
English orthography, being based on that of Old French,
which was much worse than that of British Latin, was corre-
spondingly defective. But even in the Early MnE period
the spelling was still in intention mainly phonetic : people
tried to make their spelling represent their actual pro-
nunciation, whereas now we learn the spelling of each word
mechanically, by eye, without paying much regard to its
pronunciation.
831. The first beginnings of intentionally unphonetic
spellings appear at the end of the Old French period, when
etymological spellings were introduced, by which, for
270 PHONOLOGY. [§832.
instance, French dele, dette was made into debte by the influ-
ence of its Latin original debitum, and parfet, parfit (Modern
French par/ait) was made into parfaid by the influence of
Latin perfeclum. So also Old French autour (Modern French
auteur) came to be written auctour by the .influence of its
Latin original auctorem. This latinizing often led to etymo-
logically incorrect spellings. Thus the Latin rhetor ' orator '
(from Greek rhetor) was written rethor, because th was a
more familiar combination of letters than rh. By the influ-
ence of rethor, autour was made into authour, so as to give the
word a more learned appearance. All these innovations
made their way into English, where some of them were
further developed. Thus the two spellings of autour were
blended into the form aucthour by the side of auctour, authour,
and ME parfit was latinized into perfit, perfect. None of
these spellings had, at first, any influence on the pronuncia-
tion either of French or English. Modern French has,
indeed, discarded these ' silent ' letters in most of the above
words. This writing of silent consonants in French was
probably first suggested by s having been dropped in pro-
nunciation before another consonant in Old French itself in
such words as isle ' island ' from Latin 'insula, which in late
Old French was pronounced (iila)= Early Old French (izb),
the vowel being lengthened, so that by degrees s was often
inserted without regard to etymology as a sign of length, as
mpasle ' pale '= earlier pale from Latin pallidum. When the
French isle was introduced into English, the silent s was
introduced in the native word Hand, which was written
island, the two words having really nothing in common ex-
cept their meaning. Other native English words were mis-
spelt in this way. Thus antem from OE antefn (from Greek
antiphona through some Low Latin form) was written anthem,
to give it a more learned appearance.
832. In course of time these false " spellings began to
influence the pronunciation. Thus although in Early MnE
§835.] MODERN ENGLISH. <2JI
perfect was still pronounced (perfet), by degrees the pedantic
pronunciation (perfekt) came into general use. So also with
many other latinized words.
833. In Latin th occurs only in words of Greek origin,
and in the popular language it was made into (t), so that
both in OE and ME th in Latin, and consequently in
foreign words generally was pronounced (t), being often
written so. Even in Early MnE this pronunciation was still
very frequent, not only in such words as author, but also
where the th was etymological, especially in proper names,
such as Thomas. Even in Second MnE we still find such
pronunciations as apothecary (potikari). Catherine (kaet9rn).
We still keep (t) in Thomas, and even write it in the shortened
forms Tom, Kate ; but in most of the other words — including
author, anthem, etc. — the influence of the spelling" has intro-
duced the (f>)-sound.
834. Ever since the beginning of the Third MnE period
the influence of the spelling on pronunciation has been
stronger and stronger, so that our pronunciation of many
words is a pure matter of chance, and gives rise to forms
which are against the genius of the language. Thus the
ME milne 'mill/ kilne ' kiln' both passed through miln, kiln
into (mil, kil) in Early MnE, the former word being spelt
phonetically mill, while the latter, being less familiar, kept
its old spelling, the result of which is that the purely arti-
ficial pronunciation (kiln) was afterwards introduced. For
other examples of artificial ' spelling-pronunciations ' see §§
855, 859, 872. In Present English we learn so many new
words — names of newly-imported articles of trade, new in-
ventions and scientific discoveries, etc. — by reading them in
newspapers and books long before we ever hear them pro-
nounced, that each of us guesses at the pronunciation from
the spelling, and when the word comes into general use
the wrong pronunciation often prevails.
835. But there is now so much intercourse with foreign
272 PHONOLOGY. [§ 836.
countries, and foreign languages are so much studied, that
foreign words often keep their pronunciation as far as is
consistent with English habits of speech. Thus a keeps its
(aa)-sound instead of the English (ei) in such words as
drama, vase, promenade, the older pronunciations (dreima)
etc. being now almost extinct ; and / is pronounced (ij) in-
stead of (ai) in imitation of the French pronunciation in such
words as pique, fatigue ', machine, and many other words in
-me. Even the French nasal vowels are imperfectly imitated
in such words as ennui (*aamvij), often further Anglicised
into (orjwij). Among the consonants, ch, whose regular
sound is (tj), is pronounced (k) in Greek words, such as
chaos, in imitation of the popular Latin and French pro-
nunciation, and (J) in French words such as the partially
anglicized 'champagne (Jsenrpein). Again, zz = (ts) in the
Italian mezzotinto,j=(]} in the Hebrew hallelujah, etc.
836. We are now able to answer the question, Why is
English spelling unphonetic? The main reason is that it
has not followed the changes of pronunciation. The present
English spelling represents not the sounds of Present English,
but those of Early MnE or rather Late ME. Such a
spelling as knight is not in itself unphonetic ; on the con-
trary, it is a phonetic representation — though an imperfect
one — of the sound-group (km'9t), which in ME was the pro-
nunciation of one of the words which we now pronounce
(nait), the other one having been pronounced (m'9t) in ME,
and written accordingly night. Such a spelling as island is, on
the other hand, unphonetic from every point of view, because
it inserts a letter which is not pronounced now, and never
was pronounced. Such a spelling as author was also origin-
ally unphonetic, though it has now become phonetic — but
only by corrupting the pronunciation and obscuring the
etymology of the word.
837. Another reason why our spelling is imperfect is that
it is founded on two orthographic bases : (a) the traditional
§841.] MODERN ENGLISH. 273
English basis, which, as we see, is mainly ME ; and (b) a
great variety of foreign bases, chiefly Modern French. We
see the effect of this mixture of bases in the three pronuncia-
tions of ch.
838. A third reason why our spelling is imperfect, is that
its bases are all imperfect. Such defects as writing the initial
consonants in get and gem (dsem) with the same letter are
defects not of MnE spelling itself, but of the Old French
basis of ME spelling.
839. When we call English spelling unphonetic, we do
not mean that it is wholly unphonetic. A wholly unphonetic
orthography — one in which none of the separate letters
expressed any definite sound whatever — could not be mastered
by the most retentive memory. What makes it possible to
master our present spelling is that many of the words are
still spelt phonetically ; thus such spellings as win, set, stop,
put are as phonetic as any in Latin itself.
840. English spelling has never been intentionally un-
phonetic— except in a few etymological spellings — but has
been forced into being unphonetic by a variety of circum-
stances. We need not therefore be surprised that many
attempts have been made to reform it. Already in the i6th
century there were many spelling-reformers, some of them
scholars of high reputation; but the systems they proposed
were too cumbrous and intricate for practical use. Never-
theless they introduced many reforms, such as the separation
of v and u, ee and ea, oo and oa (826), which were purely
phonetic reforms.
841. Most of the reformed spellings that have been
proposed are on the basis of the English values of the
letters : they take the most frequent symbol for each sound in
the traditional spelling, and use it consistently to express that
sound, using, for instance, ee to denote the sound (ij) not only
in see, but also in seat, seize, pique, keeping, of course, i for
the corresponding short vowel in sit. But it is evidently
VOL. i. T
274 PHONOLOGY. [§842.
unphonetic to make ee the long of i, and to assign e itself to
another distinct sound, namely that in set. Such a system is
phonetic, but it is phonetic on an unphonetic basis.
84=2. As the attempt to get a phonetic basis practically
necessitates a return in most cases to the original Roman
values of the letters, especially in the vowels, such a system
is said to be on the 'Romic' basis. The Broad Romic
notation used in this book is an example of such a system.
In all Romic systems the long vowels have the same signs as
the short ones, with such modifications as are required to
show the quantity, as in sit, siit, sit = sit, seat', diphthongs
and consonant-groups are expressed by combining the signs
of the elements of which they are made up, as in ks=x,
the superfluous Roman letters being used to denote sounds
not properly symbolized before, as when x is used for the
sound of Scotch ch in loch, and the defects of the Roman
alphabet being supplemented by the use of new letters such
as ' turned e ' — d.
Vowels.
843. The most convenient way of dealing with the MnE
vowels is to take each Late ME vowel separately, and trace
its history down to the present time.
844. a was gradually advanced to the broad (ae), so
that such words as man, sat had exactly their present pro-
nunciation in Second MnE. But in First MnE the old
(a)-sound was still kept by many speakers. Before / not
followed by a vowel a kept its back sound, and the glide
between it and the / developed into an (u), so that such
words as/0//, calm became (faul, kaulm), being sometimes
written fault etc. (a) was also kept after (w, wh), as in was,
what, where it was rounded in Second MnE, whence the
present (woz, whot), although there was no rounding when
a back consonant followed, as in wax, wag. In Second
MnE (ae) was lengthened before (s, J?) and in some other
§850.] MODERN ENGLISH. 2?$
cases, as in glass, path (glaeses, pseae]?). At the end of the
Third MnE period this (aeae) was broadened into (aa), which
is the present sound — (glaas, paa)?).
845. i, e have generally remained unchanged. But in
First MnE er final or before a consonant became (ar) as in
star, hart, &<zr/=ME sterre, hert, herte. Not in the weak her.
846. u was preserved in First MnE, as in full, come
(kum). In Second MnE it was unrounded to (A), which
was afterwards lowered to its present sound (e) — (fel, k^m).
But before this lowering took place the (A) was generally
rounded back again to (u) between a lip-consonant and (1),
as in full, wool=WE wolle, and in other words after lip-
consonants, as in wood= ME ivode, put.
847. ii generally appears as i in MnE, into which it had
already been unbounded in the London dialect of ME. Thus
MnE has^f//, ««=OE gefyllan, synn. But (y) was preserved
in First MnE in some words still written with the French u,
such as busy, dury=OE bystg, byrgan.
848. o kept its ME sound (o) in First MnE, as in top,
ox, and was broadened to its present sound in Second MnE,
being lengthened before the same consonants which lengthen
(ae), as in froth, cross, off. In Early MnE a glide- (u) developed
between (o) and / not followed by a vowel, as in boivl (b<?ul)
= OE bolla — where it was expressed in writing— -folk (foulk)
where it was not written any more than in the parallel fall
(844).
849. a underwent the same changes as a, being gradually
narrowed till it passed from (9333) into (ee), as in name, take,
this last change being completed before the Second MnE
lengthening of (&) in path, etc. In Third MnE (ee) was further
narrowed into close (ee), which in the present century was
cleft into (ei, ei).
850. I was diphthongized in First MnE by lowering and
retracting the tongue in the first half of the vowel (721) till it
became (oi), as in wine, vice, with a very high close (9), which
T 2
276 PHONOLOGY. [§ 851.
was broadened in the next two periods, till the diphthong
became almost (ai), as at present.
851. e, f . Late ME e probably had a very close sound
between (ee) and (ii), and when in First MnE the old 1 had
become (ai), the old e developed into full (ii), as in see, feld=
ME se(n), f'eld, ME / keeping its open sound (ee), as in sea,
there, this (ee) being narrowed to (ee) in Second MnE, which
by the middle of the Third MnE period was further narrowed
to (ii), ME e and / being thus levelled, as in (su)^=see, sea.
But the change into (ii) was arrested by a preceding r in
break, great (breik, greit), which were, however, also pro-
nounced (briik, griit) in the last century. In First MnE /
was often shortened to (e), especially before stops, as in
bread, heavy.
852. u was diphthongized in the same w£y as z, becoming
(6u) with very close (o), as in house, crown, the first element
being gradually unrounded and broadened into its present
sound — between (a) and (ae).
In room = QiE. rum, stoop, droop ME u has been preserved
from the change into (au) by the influence of the following lip-
consonants.
853. 6, 9. When u had become (6u), ME o — which was
probably a very close sound between (oo) and (uu) — was
moved up into the place of the old u, as in too, moon (tuu,
muun). $ kept its open sound (oo) at first, as in go, stone, and
was narrowed to close (oo) in Second MnE, which in the
present century was cleft into (ou, o\\). The older sound
has been preserved in broad (brod) through the influence of
the (r). (uu) = ME o was shortened in some words in
First MnE, as in flood (find), mother, gum = Q£ fldd, moder,
goma, whence the present forms (flud) etc. There was
another shortening of (uu) in Second MnE, especially before
stops, as in good (gud), book, bosom. These words did not
change their (u) into (B), because this change was already
completed.
§ 857.] MODERN ENGLISH. 277
854. ai, ei. In MnE the ME diphthongs <?/,// shortened
their first elements, and so were levelled under ei. As ai
became (sei) in First MnE by the regular change of (a) into
(ae) — which in this case was hastened by the fronting influ-
ence of the (i) — ai and ei became very similar in sound, so
that there was a tendency to level ei under at, as in way,
hay, clajy=M~E wet, Mi, <r//z'=OE clczg. The weak they, their
kept ei, as also several other words, especially before gh, as
in neighbour, eight. In Second MnE these diphthongs were
smoothed into (ee), so that tail and tale etc. had the same
sound, and went through the same changes.
855. oi was sometimes kept in First MnE, but in some
pronunciations the (i) raised the preceding (o) to (u), such
words as boil having the two pronunciations (boil) and (buil).
In Second MnE this (u) underwent its regular change into
(A, B) ; and the resulting (BI) was so similar in sound to the
(9!) of wine, etc., that it was levelled under it, and boil etc.
was pronounced (bail) and (boil), the former being the more
usual pronunciation. In the next period (boil) etc. again got
the upper hand by the help of the spelling, and the noun
bile = OE byle ' ulcer ' was mistakenly made into boil.
856. au was kept in First MnE, but soon passed into
open (jj) — the long of our vowel in not — as in saw, fall (844),
which in the Third period was narrowed to its present sound.
In some words au lost its (u), as in laugh, which in Second
MnE passed through (laef) into (laesef), whence the present
(laaf), half- — also written haulf— halve. au= French a before
nasals (806) generally went through the same changes, as
in aunt, comma(u]nd, la\u)mp.
857. eu, fi; fu. At the end of the ME period the
cleaving of final U into eu (805) had been extended to non-
final U as well, so that this sound was completely levelled
under eu, which in First MnE became (iiu, iu) by the regular
change of e into (ii), as in duke, fruit, new, true — also written
=ME dfic, friit, newe, trewe. ME %u remained in
278 PHONOLOGY. [§858.
First MnE, but with the usual shortening of the first element,
as mfew (feu) = MEy^z#£, and became (iu) in Second MnE,
all the three ME sounds U, eu, gu being thus levelled under
(iu). In the Third period (iu) shifted the stress on to the
second element, becoming (i'uu, juu). The (j) was afterwards
dropped after (r, J, 5) and often after (1), as in true, chuse —
now written choose- juice, lute. In Cockney and New-Eng-
land American it is dropped after all the other consonants as
well, as in new, duty, being kept only initially, as in union.
858. ou, 911 both became (oou) or (0u) in First MnE, as in
grow, know, soul=M~E growen, kngwen, sgule, which in the
Second period was smoothed into (oo) and then narrowed
into (oo), as in go (853), so that know and no etc. had the
same vowel.
Weak Vowels.
859. In First MnE long weak vowels were generally
shortened, as in honour (onur), image (imads, imaeds), nation
(naasjun, naeaesjun) = ME onur, image, naciun. Weak diph-
thongs were kept, as in nature (naatiur) = ME nature, certain.
Short vowels were generally kept, as in moral, person, sorrow
(soru), but e before r was obscured to (3), as in better, and
occasionally other vowels as well in such words as scholar ;
honour, nature. But there was also an artificial pronunciation
which tried to follow the spelling, pronouncing not only
(skolar) etc. but also (naasjon, kondisjon) etc., although the
o in nation was only another way of spelling (u) as in son—
OE sunu. ou, 0z0=ME (u, uu) was also often pronounced
(o) or even (ou) in honour, emperour, sorrow, etc.
860. In Second MnE the natural pronunciation got the
upper hand again. Weak (u) passed by regular change
into (B), as in (n^Jen) nation, and such pronunciations as
(pikt3r)=/>*V/ttr<>, which are now vulgarisms, were in general
use. As (TJ) was very similar in sound to (3), there was a
tendency to make (3) the general weak vowel, although the
§ 863.] MODERN ENGLISH. 279
older clear weak vowels were still kept in many cases, as in
(naej^nael, nsejonael) national, now pronounced (naejanal).
In Second MnE weak initial vowels were often dropped,
especially in long words, as in apprentice (prentis) estate
(ste<?t), opinion (pinjan). We still keep the short form of
the first word in the expression 'prentice hand, but the vowel
has generally been restored by the influence of the spelling.
Consonants.
861. During the transition from ME to MnE the hisses/,
s,f, became voiced in weak syllables, especially in inflectional
-es, as in the gen. sing, mannes and the plur. stgnes, whence
MnE (maenz, stounz), the breath sounds being preserved in
strong monosyllables such as ges, pens=Mi\E (gijs, pens)
contrasting with pem'es=MnE (peniz). The same change
was carried out in weak monosyllables, so that numerous
doublets were formed. Thus the emphatic adverb of=MnE
off preserved its (f), while the preposition of was weakened
to (ov). There were similar doublets of wifi, ts, fits, etc.
Initial fi was voiced in the weak forms of some very
frequent — mostly pronominal words — such as fie, fie, fim,
fiat, fiouh=MnE (Si, tSij, "Sain, (Saet, Sou), the strong forms
being now lost.
These changes probably began in collocations where the
hiss- consonant was flanked by voice sounds, as in mannes mod,
of a man, to ]>e man, where of a, tope etc. would naturally become
(0va, too^e) on the analogy of wives genitive of wif, where the
alternation of f and v is of OE origin.
862. The voicing of weak (t|) into (tig) in knowledge^.
ME kngwljche is quite parallel to the voicing of weak (s) in
stones. We have the same weakening in the Present English
pronunciation of such words as ostrich (ostrid$) and the
ending -wtch in Greenwich, Norwich.
863. Towards the end of the First MnE period (s)
preceded by a weak vowel and followed by a strong vowel
280 PHONOLOGY. [§864.
became (z), whence the Present English distinction between
exert (ig'zaat) and exercise ('eks9saiz), the (s) being pre-
served unchanged in the latter word because it is followed
by a weak vowel. Other examples are exhibit compared
with exhibition, example, anxiety (aerj'zaiili) compared with
anxious (sen/as), where the change of (s) into (J) is a later
one (870), dessert, disease, dissolve, transact.
Exceptions to this rule are the result of analogy. Thus to
absent (ab'sent) owes its (s) to influence of the adjective absent
(•aebsant), research to the influence of search.
864. Initial (h), which was preserved through First and
Second MnE, began to be dropped at the end of the last
century, but has now been restored in Standard E. by the
combined influence of the spelling and of the speakers of
Scotch and Irish E., where it has always been preserved. It
is also preserved in American E., while it has been almost
completely lost in the dialects of England — including Cock-
ney E. — as also in vulgar Australian.
865. But (h) is always dropped in weak syllables when
not at the beginning of the sentence, as in (-hij sed -ij W9z
redi) he said he was ready, whence the distinction between
the emphatic (-him) and the unemphatic (-in:.).
The dropping of h in weak syllables is very old. Even in
OE we find such spellings as eora, Eadelm=heora 'their,' Ead-
helm (a man's name).
866. As we have seen, strong h appears in ME in the
form of (c.) and (xz#). In First MnE the former was
weakened to a mere breath-glide, and then dropped, the
preceding vowel being lengthened, so that ME night (nic.t)
passed through (niht) into (niit), whence by the regular
change (nait). But the older (niht) was still kept up by
some speakers, and the co-existence of (nait) and (niht)
gave rise to the blending (naiht) or (naigt), which, although
artificial, seems to have been not uncommon in speech.
The gh in high, nigh, weigh, etc. = ME high, hi was
§869.] MODERN ENGLISH. 281
generally silent. The back-^ was kept in such words as
laugh, thought, enough (lauxw, Ipouxwt, Ipoxwt, inuxw), and
in many words the lip element was exaggerated in Second
MnE till it became (f)— (laef, laeaef, foft, Ipoot, insf)— which
in draft by the side of draught — both from ME draght—\ws>
been adopted in the spelling.
867. r was kept unchanged in First MnE, being after-
wards gradually weakened till it lost its trill everywhere.
Towards the end of the Third period it began to be
dropped everywhere except before a vowel, as in the present
Standard E.
868. Already in First MnE (r) had developed a glide
before it in such words as fire, flower (faiar, flouar) = ME
fir, flur, and had broadened a preceding e into (a), as in
star (845). In Second MnE it began to modify preceding
vowels in the direction of (9), so that er, ir, ur came to be
levelled under (9r) or (^r), as in her (h^r) fir, bird, fur, turn.
In Third MnE it modified preceding (ee)=d, ai, ei to (ee), as
in care (k^r), fair, their contrasting with name (neem), fail,
veil; and towards the end of this period it broadened a pre-
ceding (se) into (a), as in star, hard. ME jr, or appear in
Third MnE sometimes as (iir, uur), as in fear, moor, being
sometimes broadened into (eev, or), as in there, bear, floor.
In the present century (r) has been dropped everywhere
except before a vowel, r final or before a consonant being
represented only by a preceding glide-(9), as in (fai9) =
Early MnE (fai3r) = ME fir. This (9)=r has broadened
preceding (ij, uw) into (i, u), as in here (his), poor, cure
(kju9) contrasting with he (hij), pool (puwl). The glide-(a)
before (r) was finally absorbed by a preceding mixed or
broad vowel, (^r) in her etc. passing through (^9) into (99),
(a9, 09) into (aa, o), as in star, floor.
869. 1. Already in First MnE (1) began to be dropped
between (u) and a following consonant, as in half (haulf,
hauf), folk (foulk, fouk) ; also in should (Juuld, Juld, Jud),
282 PHONOLOGY. [§ 870.
would, could, where the (1) was at first dropped only when
these! words were weak.
870. s, z. In Second and Third MnE the combinations
(sj, zj) became (J, 5), as in nation (n^<?J^n)= Early MnE
(nae3esjun) = ME ndcioun (naasi-uun), sure (siur, sjuur, Juur),
usual (iuziuael, juusuael), such words as nature, verdure
passing through (naeaetjur, niitjar, verdjur, verdjar) into the
present (neitja, va9d59).
871. w in First MnE was kept before (r), which it
rounded, and was then dropped itself, as in write (rz^ait),
the (r) being afterwards unrounded.
We can see the influence of this rounded r in the vulgar
(rop)='wrap) where (rw] had the same rounding effect on the
following vowel as in was (844).
872. In Second MnE w was dropped in weak syllables,
especially in -ward, -wards, as in Edward (edard), backwards
(bsekardz). We still drop the w in towards (todz), but it has
been restored in the other words through the influence of the
spelling, except in vulgar speech. The weak ending -wich
drops the w in all familiar place-names, such as Greenwich
(grinidg).
873. k was kept initially before (n) in First MnE, as in
know [compare acknowledge}, the (n) being unvoiced, and the
(k) afterwards dropped, so that in Second MnE (kmm, kn/fou)
became (n/^oo), this (n^) being afterwards levelled under the
more frequent (n) in no, etc.
874. g was dropped before (n) in Second MnE as in
gnaw.
875. In First MnE medial (rjg) was shortened to (rj) in
such words as singer (sirjar), smgmg=ME (singer), etc.
by the analogy of final (n) in sing ; but (rjg) was kept in the
comparison of adjectives, as in longer, longest.
876. t, d. In Second MnE (t) preceded by the hisses
(s, f) and followed by the vowel-like consonants (1, n, m)
§ 88 1.] PRESENT ENGLISH: STRESS. 283
was regularly dropped, as in thistle (f>isl), fasten (faesesn),
chestnut, Christmas, often.
877. In First MnE (d) preceded by a vowel and followed
by (r) was opened into (cS) in many words, such as father,
together, hither = OE feeder, Late ME fader, fader (793),
OE td'gadre, hider. Conversely (tS) often became (d) in
First MnE in combination with (r) and (1), as in murther,
murder, rudder, fiddle =GE morfror, rdpor,fi]>ek.
878. b. In First MnE final (b) was dropped after (m), as
in lamb. Hence b was added in writing to words which in
ME had only m, as in limb, numd=M.E Urn, inumen 'taken/
' seized ' = OE genumen.
PRESENT ENGLISH.
Stress.
WORD- STRESS.
879. The characteristic features of Present English stress
are some of them of OE origin, while others developed them-
selves in ME and in the different periods of MnE, some
being apparently of very recent origin.
880. In Present English, as in OE, the most general
principle of stress is that subordinate words — especially form-
words — have weak stress. Thus in he is a man of the world,
the subordinate words he, is, a, of, the all have weak stress.
Hence the weakened stress in a .-piece of bread, and the
distinction between -some bread and 'some 'people (61. i).
881. The OE principle of putting the stress on the first
syllable of a word generally resulted in the principal stress
being on the root-syllable of inflected or derived words.
This principle is still maintained in MnE in native words, as
in fearful, fearfully, fearless, fearlessness, fisher, fishery,
fisherman (fijarnan).
284 PHONOLOGY. [§ 882.
882. We have seen that already in ME many long words
of French origin with the stress on the last syllable threw
it back on to the first syllable by the analogy of the native
stress (787). In MnE this tendency has become stronger
and stronger, so that the first-syllable stress in such words as
honour, pity, emperor, justify, which in Late ME was only
occasional, has now become fixed. Even in the present
century many of these words have thrown back their stress
to the first syllable, such as balcony, crystalline, recondite,
which in the last century were stressed on their second
syllables.
883. Native words which had weak stress on the first syl-
lable in OE and ME, such as arise, become, forgive, to-day,
still keep this stress in MnE, as also those French words
which preserved a similar stress in ME through their resem-
blance to the above native words, such as avow, defend.
884. Many other foreign words have also preserved their
advanced stress. There are many foreign derivative endings
— chiefly Greek and Latin, often modified in their passage
through French — which regularly take the stress, such as
-esque, -tion, -sion etc., -bility, -graphy, as in picturesque, grot-
esque, imagination, position, possibility, photography, in all of
which the stress is taken away from the root-syllable, on
which it falls in the shorter forms imagine, possible, photo-
graph etc. Many words which were imported from French
and other foreign languages in the MnE period keep their
advanced stress even when the analogy of other words points
to throwing it back on the first syllable, such as machine,
caprice — which show their French origin by the pronuncia-
tion of i as (ij) — champagne, canoe, gazelle. Words which were
imported straight from Latin generally keep the Latin stress,
as mpa'pyrus, even when the final syllable is dropped, as in
create, se'vere. Words of Greek origin follow the Latin
accentuation as well as the Latin spelling, so that the
original Greek stress is preserved in English only when it
§887.] PRESENT ENGLISH: STRESS. 285
happens to be preserved in Latin also, as in genesis, museum
= Greek £/«£$•£$-, mousewn.
885. But foreign words even of recent introduction are
always liable to have their stress thrown back on to the first
syllable, or, at any rate, towards the beginning of the word,
as soon as they become popular, which in Latin words is ge-
nerally shown by their shortening or dropping their endings,
as in - auditor =. Latin au'dltor, 'discipline^. Latin dtscrpltna,
phi'losophy^ Latin philo'sophia from Greek philosophia.
886. When a foreign word is used in different senses, it
often happens that in its more familiar meaning it throws
the stress back, keeping the original stress in the less familiar
meaning. Thus we keep the original Latin stress in the ad-
jective au'gust and the name Au'gus/us=Lztin au'gustus, but
throw it back in the month-name -August. So also the ad-
jective mi'nute keeps its Latin stress, which is thrown back in
the more familiar noun -minute.
887. In many cases where the same foreign word is used
both as a noun and a verb in English, it keeps its end-stress
when used as a verb by the analogy of the native verbs which
have the same stress, while the corresponding noun- or
adjective-form takes the stress on the first syllable, so that the
distinction between such words as the noun -accent and the
verb to accent is really ultimately due to the analogy of the
OE pairs -forwyrd, forweorfran etc., which analogy was
greatly aided by the fact that many verbs of French and
Latin origin also threw forward their stress; thus the con-
trast between the foreign verbs induce, in-vade etc. and the
native nouns 'income, 'insight etc. led to the distinction
between the noun 'insult and the verb in-sult from Latin
insul-tare. The following are additional examples of such
pairs :
'absent to ab'sent
'abstract to ab'stract
'affix to a'ffix
'compound to corn-pound
'extract to ex'tract
'frequent tofre'quent
286 PHONOLOGY. [§ 888.
object to ob'ject I 'produce to pro'dtice
'present to pre'sent \ 'rebel to re'bel
In some cases, however, the noun- and adjective-forms keep
the verb-stress, as in ad-vice (to ad-vise), ce-ment.
888. The normal stress of a word is always liable to be
changed by considerations of emphasis, even a weak word or
syllable being capable of taking strong stress if emphasized,
as in that is -the thing to do, especially in cases of contrast, as
in to give and 'forgive, not 'subjective but 'objective, against the
normal stress/0r£7W, subjective, objective.
In some cases this contrasting stress has permanently altered
the normal stress. Thus, while in most words the ending -or
is pronounced weak (-ar), as in actor, author, it is regularly
pronounced with strong (ar) in those words where it is con-
trasted with the corresponding passive ending -ee, as in lessor
(le'SDa) 'one who lets a house' contrasted with lessee (le'sij)
'one to whom the house is let,' as the normal pronunciation
(less) would lead to confusion with the adjective lesser.
STRESS IN WORD- GROUPS AND COMPOUNDS.
889. The most characteristic feature of Present English
stress is its great development of even stress . many combina-
tions which had the strong stress on one syllable only in
OE now having it equally distributed over two syllables.
890. Thus in the free groups, adjective or genitive -f
noun, the regular stress is even, as in a 'good -man, a -virtuous
-woman, a 'great improvement, the 'kings 'son. So also to
the OE "wide :cuj> corresponds the Present English 'widely
'known, -widely di'jfused,
891. In OE the combination adjective + noun might be
either a free group or a compound, which were distinguished
from one another by the adjective being declinable in the
group, indeclinable in the compound, both combinations
having the stress on the first element. Thus the group
-god d&d ' good deed ' and the compound godd&d ' benefit '
§ 894. J PRESENT ENGLISH: STRESS. 287
appear in the dative plural as godum dccdum and godd&dum
respectively. So also the compound cwicseolfor 'quicksilver/
literally ' living silver ' has genitive cwicseolfres, the first ele-
ment remaining undeclined.
892. In MnE, adjectives have become indeclinable, so that
it would hardly be possible to distinguish compounds begin-
ing with adjectives from free groups, were it not for the
difference of stress, the combination adjective + noun with
the stress on the first element being a compound in Present
English, as in -quicksilver, while the even-stressed 'good 'deed
can only be regarded as a group, so that the OE compound
godd&d must be regarded as having been either lost or sepa-
rated into a free group in Present English. On the other
hand, many OE free combinations of adjective + noun have
developed into compounds in MnE, as in blackberries = OE
blace bgrigan, Englishman = OE fnglisc mann, in the latter
example with obscuration of the second element, showing the
intimateness of the composition.
893. But the tendency to give adjectives full stress is so
strong that even stress is found in many combinations whose
meaning is quite as much isolated as in the above instances
of uneven stress, such as —
'high 'road, public house, easy chair, shooting star.
Prussic acid, Prussian blue, Indian ink.
old age, common sense, safe conduct, high treason, leading
article.
Even stress is the rule when the adjective follows the noun,
as in Prince Consort, Princess Royal, poet laureate.
894. In the OE combination genitive + noun there is
nothing to tell us whether it is to be regarded as a group or a
compound, for this combination always has the stress on the
first element, which, being already inflected, is incapable of
any further grammatical modification. But in Present
English we can distinguish clearly between even-stress ge-
nitive groups such as 'king's 'son, and uneven-stress genitive
288 PHONOLOGY. [§ 895.
compounds such as the plant-name crow's-foot, whose stress
is perfectly parallel to that of other compound names of
natural objects (896).
Many genitive compounds have been obscured by sound-
change and contraction, such as England=QY, gngla-land
' land of the Anglians ' (OE plural nominative gngle).
895. Even stress has further made its way into some of
the old compounds, where the logical relation between the
elements of the compound resembles that between the
elements of a free group, especially when the first element is
felt to be equivalent to an adjective, as in 'gold 'ring com-
pared with the OE compound goldfcet ' gold vessel.' When
OE -gylden :hring, where gylden is a declinable adjective,
had been made into the even-stressed 'golden 'ring, it was
natural to transfer this stress to the compound gold-ring.
896. But uneven — first-syllable — stress is also preserved
in Present English compounds. In some compounds the
uneven stress seems to be the result of the second element
being less logically prominent than the first, through being a
word of general meaning and frequent occurrence in com-
pounds. Thus in such a compound as appletree we should
expect even stress, as in apple pudding, silk thread, etc., an
appletree being simply 'a tree that bears apples/ just as a
silk thread is a ( thread made of silk ' ; and the uneven stress
is simply the result of the frequency of the second element in
applelree and the other compounds in -tree, there being so
many different kinds of fruit-trees that when we hear the
words apple-, pear- etc. as the first elements of compounds,
we add the word tree almost as a matter of course. In such
compounds the second element is, in fact, on the way to be-
come a mere derivative ending, especially when it undergoes
phonetic weakening through this very want of prominence,
as is often the case with the ending -man in such compounds
as shopman (Jopmsn), clergyman, Englishman, which are
logically on a level with such even-stress compounds as
§ 899.] PRESENT ENGLISH ; STRESS. 289
English boy. The result of these tendencies is that many
compound names of natural objects and of classes of human
beings, together with some ending in time-words of general
meaning, take first-element stress : —
'goldfish, canary bird, turtledove, dragonfly; apple tree, fruit-
tree, rosebush, beetroot; sandstone — greyhound, blackbird ; blue-
bell, blackberry ; quicksilver — crow's-foot, cat's -mint; birdseye
(a kind of tobacco).
Englishman, Englishwoman, freemason, blacksmith —
ladies -man, ladys-maid, bridesmaid.
summertime, dinnertime; birthday, dogdays — midnight,
midsummer.
897. But in most compounds uneven stress does not imply
any logical subordination, but is only a means of joining the
two elements more closely together or isolating the meaning
of the whole, as we see very clearly by comparing blackbird
with black bird.
898. We may therefore define the logical distinction be-
tween even and uneven stress by saying that even stress
balances as it were the two elements against one another
and puts them on a footing of equality, and to some extent
separates them, while uneven stress either subordinates one
element to the other, as in appletree, or indicates a close logi-
cal union, as in blackbird.
899. One result of this is that even stress is often preserved
in newly-formed compounds or groups merely because the
meaning of the two elements is still fresh in the minds of
those who use the compound, so that they are balanced
against one another, while a similar compound which was
formed long ago, and has become traditional, so that the
original meaning of its elements is no longer prominent,
keeps its original uneven stress, or substitutes uneven for even
stress. Thus we have even stress in modern place-names
such as 'New 'York, New Zealand, the West End, Redhill,
contrasted with uneven stress in older names such as New-
VOL. i. U
290 PHONOLOGY. [§ 900.
castle, Newport, Longwood, Redlynch — where lynch=.1 slope of
hill.'
Uneven stress in place-names is often the result of the want
of prominence of the second element, which is often obscured,
as in the Highlands, the Midlands y Kingston [-ton—town],
Bradford \=broad ford}.
We will now consider the stress of compounds more in
detail, according to the part of speech to which the com-
pound belongs.
Compound Nouns.
900. Compounds of noun or adjective + noun regularly
take uneven stress when a causal relation is implied. A very
numerous class of causal compounds are those in which the
first element expresses. the purpose or object of the second;
thus toyshop is a shop for selling and buying toys, a watchdog
is a dog for watching. The following are further examples
of these purpose-compounds : —
'greenhouse, diningroom, fireplace, flowerpot, flowerpot-
stand, pocketbook ; schoolroom, guidebook, footpath, dancing-
master, stable-boy, post-office, weathercock ; coal-mine, gravel-
pit; summer-house.
901. In other causal compounds the second element ex-
presses the result of the first, or dependence on it ; thus coal-
tar is tar obtained from coal, a steam-engine is a machine
whose working depends on steam. Other examples are —
'windfall, rainbow, chi lib lain ; lampblack, water-colours;
oil-lamp, sundial; sunflower ; thundercloud, thunderstorm,
tobacco-smoke, rain-water.
902. Another well-defined class of uneven-stress noun-
compounds are those which express phenomena or actions.
In the following the first element may be said to stand in the
direct object relation to the second :—
'painstaking, screwdriver, bookseller, stockbroker ; man-
§905.] PRESENT ENGLISH ; STRESS. 291
slaughter, bloodshed ; goldsmith, shoeblack ; flower-show, cart-
load.
903. In the following phenomenon-compounds the first
element stands to the second in a variety of other rela-
tions : —
-earthquake, shipwreck ; grasshopper ; cricket-match, walk-
ing-tour, dinner-party; sunrise , moonlight ; eyesight; headache;
garrison-life, priestcraft.
904. We now have to consider the use of even stress in
noun-compounds. In even stress, as already remarked (895),
the first element is generally felt to be equivalent to an adjec-
tive. This is especially clear in those even-stress compounds
in which the first element (a) expresses something that resem-
bles the second element, as in sponge-cake = ' sponge-like
cake/ * spongy cake/ (3) defines the sex or age of the second
element, as in man cook = ' male cook/ and (c) denotes the
material of which the second element is made, as in silk
thread: —
(a) -bow -window, rocksalt, loaf sugar \ copper beech, moss
rose, silver sand.
The last three go against the analogy of goldfish etc. (896) ;
but beech is evidently too special a word to be subordinated in
the same way as tree etc.
(&) -man 'cook, lady doctor, boy messenger, infant pheno-
menon ; tomcat, buck rabbit, poll parrot. So also in he-goat,
she-goat.
(c) 'brick -house, stone wall, gravel walk, straw hat, silver
spoon; olive oil ; meat pie, jam tart, ginger ale.
905. Even stress is also used when a general place-word,
such as road, square, is defined by another noun — often a
proper name — or adjective put before it, as in Oxford
Road. So also when the name of a place is prefixed to
a noun to show where the latter comes from. Examples
are —
'Oxford -Road, Mincing Lane, Hanover Square, London
U 2
292 PHONOLOGY. [§ 906.
Bridge, Wimbledon Common — North Road, South Park — St.
'James's 'Square.
'Turkey 'carpet, Indiarubber, Ceylon 'tea.
But when the noun street takes the place of road etc. in such
compounds, it is subordinated in stress because of its greater
frequency (896) :—
'Oxford Street, Fenchurch Street — Highstreet — Prince's
Street.
906. Compounds of verb + noun are necessarily phe-
nomenon-compounds, and therefore take uneven stress
(902). In them the noun stands sometimes in the object-,
sometimes in the subject-relation to the verb, the relation
being doubtful in some compounds. Examples are —
'breakwater, scarecrow, telltale, breakfast (brekfast) ; rattle-
snake, leapfrog, drawbridge ; whirlwind, leapyear, washlub.
Compound Adjectives.
907. Compound adjectives consisting of noun + adjec-
tive-word generally have uneven stress, especially when the
second element is a participle : —
'godlike, jelly-like, foolhardy, colourblind, weatherwise,
bloodthirsty, waterproof; heartrending, spirit-stirring ; sun-
burnt, careworn, bloodshot.
Compounds ending in -ed tacked on to a noun where there is
no corresponding verb, such as harebrained, humpbacked, have
the same stress as sunburnt, etc., but they were not originally
participles, having the adjective-ending -ede in OE.
908. Combinations of adjective + adjective have even
stress ; many of them are used also as nouns : —
'deaf -'mute, north-west, whitey-brown, greenish yellow ;
half-mad, dead-ripe, redhot, broiling hot.
909. The analogous combinations of numerals, which are
used both as nouns and adjectives, have the same even
stress : —
§9i6.] PRESENT ENGLISH; STRESS. 293
'twenty-'one, a 'hundred and 'ten, two hundred, three
thousand.
Compound Verbs.
910. The great majority of compound verbs are made up
of adverbs and verbs (912), compounds of verbs with other
parts of speech being rare, and of modern origin. These
compounds of noun or adjective + verb generally have
uneven stress : —
-browbeat, originally ' to threaten or censure by contrac-
tion of the eyebrows/ kiln-dry ; whitewash, blindfold.
Adverbs and Pronouns in Composition.
911. Noun-compounds consisting of adverb + noun,
and adjective-compounds consisting of adverb + pre-
terite participle generally have uneven stress : —
-forefinger, foreground, afterthought, bystander, underlip,
up train, downfall, outcry, through journey,
inborn, downcast, thoroughbred.
912. The numerous compound verbs formed of adverb
•f verb and of verb + adverb have even stress : —
'fore'warn, overcome, undergo, outbid,
'pass 'by, draw back, break down, take in, look out, run
away.
913. Nouns and adjectives formed from these verbs by
derivation or inflection keep the same even stress : —
'fore' runner, forewarning ; passer by, looking on.
'forewarned ; grown up, broken down, worn out.
914. So also if they are converted into nouns without
change of meaning, as in an 'overload, a look-out, a break-
down.
915. But if they are made into nouns or adjectives with a
distinct change of meaning, the stress becomes uneven : —
a -drawback, a runaway, a go-between, tumble-down (adj.)
916. There are many compounds of pronoun + pronoun
and of pronoun 4- adverb in which the principle of putting
294 PHONOLOGY. [§917.
the stress on the modifying element is very clearly carried
out; in the following the modifying element comes first, so
that first-syllable stress is the result : —
•someone somebody something somewhere somehow
anyone anybody anything anywhere anyhow
everyone everybody everything everywhere —
no one nobody nothing nowhere
So also in 'elsewhere.
917. In other compounds the modifying element follows,
so that the stress is thrown forwards : —
someone 'else, somewhere else, whatever else,
who'ever, whosoever, whatever, whenever, wherever, how-
ever.
EXTENSION OF COMPOUND- STRESS.
918. In Present English some words made up of insepar-
able elements take even stress as if they were compound
words.
919. Some prefixes which have a very definite meaning
and are phonetically capable of being detached from the body
of a word have in consequence come to be felt as independent
words, the prefix and the body of the word being balanced
against one another, as it were, by each receiving equal
stress. Foreign, as well as native, inseparable prefixes are
treated in this way : —
Nouns : 'unbe'lief, 'misconduct, misunderstanding, noncon-
ductor, ex-manager, sub-committee, archbishop, juxtaposition,
antiradical.
Adjectives: unseen, uncouth, unkind; superhuman.
Verbs: misjudge, unbend, uncover, gainsay, cross-examine ;
re-cover = ' cover again/ re-examine.
mis'take keeps its traditional ME stress because it is isolated
from take.
920. Even simple words of more than one syllable
sometimes have their syllables detached in this way. This is
§ 925.] PRESENT ENGLISH ; STRESS. 295
frequent with exclamations, which naturally tend to take
even stress through the endeavour to make each syllable as
loud as possible : —
'hul'lo !, bravo !, amen !, encore !
Exclamations are also uttered with advanced stress (929).
921. The same striving after distinctness leads to even
stress in many foreign words, especially proper names : —
'Berlin, Chinese, 'Waterloo.
922. The /^/-numerals take level stress on the analogy of
the group-numerals twenty-one, etc. : —
'thirteen^ fourteen, seventeen, nineteen.
GROUP-COMPOUNDS.
923. Group-compounds formed by joining together two
nouns by the conjunction and or a preposition — generally of
— throw the stress on to the second element, as being the
modifying one. The following are examples of and-gvoups : —
cup and "saucer, knife and fork, bread and butter.
When other parts of speech are joined together in this way,
they keep even stress : 'now and 'then^ to and fro, more and
more, five and twenty ', black and tan. Or-groups have even
stress when the or is a strong alternative, as in 'sooner or 'later,
the stress being thrown back when the or is weak, as in an
'hour or so, a step or two.
924. The following are examples of group-compounds
formed with prepositions : —
man of -property, man-of-war, woman of the world, people
of rank, a cup of tea, a pair of gloves, matter of fact, mother-
of-pearl ; commander-in-chief, a box on the ear, head over heels.
925. If an adjective precedes the second noun, the chief
stress falls on that adjective : —
cat-o - nine-tails, Jack-of -all-trades.
The stress is thrown back in father-in-law -, etc.
296 PHONOLOGY. [§ 926.
STRESS ADVANCED IN COMPOUNDS.
926. In man-kind the stress is thrown forward. This is
more frequent in words of three or more syllables, es-
pecially in proper names and words lengthened by derivative
syllables : —
pocket-handkerchief, Southampton, Newfoundland, arch-
' bishopric [^arch-bishop], outrageous ['outrage].
So also in Fitzgerald, portfolio, portmanteau, which are felt
as compounds, though obscured.
927. Stress is thrown forward when a title is followed by
a proper name : —
Mr. "Smith, Miss Carnaby, Lord John, King Henry,
Prince Arthur.
928. In exclamations the stress is sometimes even (920),
but is often advanced, as in a'ha !, good 'morning ! Hence
even-stress compounds such as 'Blackheath, Oxford Road
become Black-heath, etc. when used as exclamations, com-
pounds in which the stress is thrown back, such as -Oxford
Street, keeping their stress unchanged when used as exclama-
tions.
ASSUMPTIVE (ATTRIBUTIVE) COMPOUNDS AND GROUPS.
929. When an even-stress compound or group, or simple
word stressed like a compound is put before a noun which it
modifies assumptively, the stress is thrown on the first ele-
ment of the compound or group : —
-Berlin 'wool [but 'wool from -Berlin], Waterloo station,
a Chinese mandarin ; non-commissioned officer ; underdone meat.
secondhand bookseller, North Country surgeon, ten-pound
note, twenty-five members ; All Saints day ; goodlooking man,
slrongminded ivoman, hardboiled eggs, well-known voice;
turned-up nose, grown-up daughter.
•black-and-tan -terrier, five-and-twenty blackbirds.
Compare also a -seven o clock 'dinner, and a 'good for
§ 935-1 PRESENT ENGLISH; QUANTITY. 297
nothing 'fellow with we dine at 'seven tf'dock and he is 'good
for 'nothing.
930. When a group-compound in which the stress is
already thrown forward is used assumptively, it keeps its
stress unaltered, the stress of the head-word being sub-
ordinated : —
cat and 'dog :life, cock and bull story, rag bone and 'bottle
'.merchant ; bank of England note.
931. This is also done with some even-stress groups in
which the connection between the elements is not close : —
a drowned -rat :lookt dead letter office, a Michael Angela
style, the Charles Dickens edition.
932. So also in longer groups :
a good all 'round :man, the employers liability for 'injury
:bill, the commons enclosure consolidation :act.
Quantity.
933. In MnE there is a general tendency to shorten long
vowels. As we have seen (851, 853), long vowels are often
shortened before certain consonants in native words, as in
blood (bred) = OE and ME Mod.
934. There is also a tendency to shorten long vowels — or
keep strong short vowels from being lengthened — when
followed by a single consonant and a weak vowel, in words
of French origin, whether popular or learned, as in cavern,
cavity compared with cave ; gratify, gratitude compared with
grateful', perish, method, benefit, relative, astonish, philosophy,
astronomy, pleasure (plesa) compared with please, courage
(kmds), flourish.
935. But when the consonant is followed by two weak
vowels the preceding strong vowel is often lengthened, as in
atheist, radiant, patient, tedious, especially in the derivative
endings -tion, -sion, etc., preceded by a strong vowel, as in
nation, admiration, adhesion, notion, corrosion^ although i is
298 PHONOLOGY. [§ 936.
not lengthened under these circumstances, as in hideous,
petition. Short vowels are also preserved when the two short
vowels are preceded by certain consonants, such as n and sh,
as in companion, fashion.
936. There are also a variety of other exceptions, especially
before certain endings, such as -al, -ive, -y, -n and -r preceded
by weak vowels, as in fatal, decisive, navy compared with
navigate, bacon, paper, labour, those in -n and -r being probably
the result of the influence of native words, such as the preterite
participles taken, shaken, etc., and the numerous derivatives in
-er, such as maker,
937. But some of these words with long vowels shorten
them when another syllable is added, as in national compared
with nation, tyrannous compared with tyrant.
938. In words which have been imported direct from
Latin and Greek, the vowels are generally long under the
circumstances described above, as in basis, ether, regent, crisis,
focus, strophe. But there are several exceptions, such as simile
(simili), chemist, the quantity varying in some words, such as
pathos (peif>os, paejjos).
939. In Present English we can distinguish three degrees
of vowel quantity. Long vowels and diphthongs preserve
their full quantity only when final, as in say, see, no, why, or
when followed by a final voice consonant, as in home, raise,
succeed, wine. Before breath consonants they become half-
long, as in race, seat, knife.
940. In all these cases the consonant is short. If a short
strong vowel is followed by a single consonant, that consonant
is lengthened, as in fill, win (winn), set, this lengthening
having taken place already in ME (789). But if the final
consonant is voiced — especially if it is a voice stop — the
vowel is often lengthened instead of the consonant, as in bed
(beed), dog compared with dock, his (h/'/'z), length being
often distributed about equally over the vowel and the con-
§ 943-] PRESENT ENGLISH; QUANTITY.
sonant. It will be observed that when these naturally short
vowels are lengthened in this way, their quality remains un-
changed ; thus the lengthened vowel of dog remains distinct
from the (o) of daub.
In English, therefore, in the combination strong vowel + final
consonant, either the vowel must be long or the consonant.
The combination short strong vowel + short final consonant
offers great difficulties to English speakers, as in the German
mann (man).
941. The combination short strong vowel + short con-
sonant occurs in English only before a weak vowel, as in
filling (filirj) compared with fill (fill), lesser, many, cupboard
(ktfbad), a vowel-like consonant acting like a weak vowel, as
in cattle (ksetl), written, trouble. A weak vowel beginning
another word has the same effect, if the two words are run
together without any pause, as in /// it (fil -it), let us get it (let
-3S get -it) compared with get them (gett Sam). Long vowels
and diphthongs under these conditions are partially shortened,
as in tidy compared with tide, chosen (tjouzn) compared with
chose, the vowel-like consonant in the latter example acting
like a weak vowel. Half-long vowels and diphthongs are
partially shortened in the same way, as in fighter compared
with tight, the diphthong in tighter being therefore still shorter
than in tidy.
942. In weak syllables simple vowels become quite short,
and a following consonant remains short also, as in pity,
pitied, better, setting. A vowellike consonant remains short
under the same circumstances, as in settle (setl), bitten (bitn).
943. Final consonants are long, as we have seen, after
strong short vowels. In final consonant-groups the separate
consonants are short if the last of them is voiceless, as in
built, since, stopped. A consonant before a voice-con-
sonant is lengthened, especially when a vowel-like consonant
is followed by a voice-stop consonant, as in build (billd),
bend compared with built (bilt), bent.
300 PHONOLOGY. [§ 944.
Two consonants in a weak syllable are, of course, short, as
in bottled (botld).
944. When long words are drawled, any naturally long
sounds they may contain are, of course, lengthened still more.
If the word consists of a strong short vowel followed by a
single consonant and a short weak vowel, the strong vowel
is not lengthened, but the length is thrown on to the weak
vowel, which is lengthened without change of quality, and
without taking any additional stress, as in what a pity I
(•p/'tzV), stop her !
ACCIDENCE.
NOUNS.
Old English.
GENDER.
945. There are three genders of nouns in OE — mascu-
line, feminine, and neuter. The genders of nouns are most
clearly shown by the accompanying definite article 'the' —
masculine se, feminine seo, and neuter pat. The gender is
partly natural, partly grammatical. It is to be noted that
by natural gender names of children and young animals
are neuter : pat cild, pat beam ' child,' pat cealf ' calf/
In the same way diminutives are neuter : pat magd-en
1 maiden/ ' girl/ Names of things and abstractions are
often neuter, but as often masculine or feminine : pat
heafod ' head/ pat hus " house ' ; se finger l finger/ se hgre
' army ' ; seo hand ' hand/ seo wynn ' joy/ Names of living
beings sometimes have a grammatical gender which contra-
dicts the natural gender ; thus pat wif ' woman/ ( wife ' is
neuter.
946. The gender is sometimes shown by the form of the
word. Thus all nouns ending in -a are masculine, such as
se mona * moon/ seo sunne ' sun ' being feminine.
947. Compound nouns follow the gender of the last
element. Hence se wlfmann ' woman ' is masculine, because
se mann ' human being ' is masculine.
302
ACCIDENCE.
[§ 948.
STRONG AND WEAK.
948. All nouns belong to one of two classes — strong and
weak. Weak nouns are those which inflect mainly with -n,
such as se steorra { star,' plural nominative pa s/eorran, sunne,
genitive singular Jxzre sunnan. All others are strong, such
as se stan ' stone/ genitive singular stanes, plural nominative
stanas.
CASES.
949. OE nouns have four cases, nominative, accusa-
tive, dative, genitive, which are not always clearly dis-
tinguished. The accusative is the same as the nominative in
all plurals, in the singular of all neuter nouns, and in the
singular of all masculine strong nouns. Masculine and neuter
nouns differ very little in their inflections. The inflections
of weak nouns are nearly the same in all three genders.
The dative plural ending of nearly all nouns is -urn.
DECLENSIONS.
The following are the regular noun-declensions : —
Strong Masculine.
Sing.
Sing. Plur.
950. Nom.1 stan stanas
Dat. stane stanum
Gen. stanes stana
Plur.
gnde ' end '
gnde
gndes
Strong Neuter.
um
Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur.
951. Nom. hus hus scip ' ship ' scipu
Dat. huse husum scipe scipum
Gen. hilses hilsa scipes sdpa
952. Some neuters have a plural ending -ru, such as did,
plural ctldru, cildrum, cildra. The plural ending -u is
dropped after a long syllable, that is, one containing a
1 Wherever the accusative is not given separately, it is the same as
the nominative.
§ 956.] NOUNS; OLD ENGLISH. 303
long vowel, as in hus, or containing a vowel followed by
more than one consonant, as \\\folc ' nations.'
Strong Feminine.
Sing. Plur.
953. Nom. earn 'care' cara
Ace. care cara
Dat. care carum
Gen. care carena
Sing. Plur.
synn ' sin ' synna
synne synna
synne synnum
synne synna
954. The -u of the nom. sing, is, like the -u of the neuter
plur. nom., kept only after a short syllable. Some strong
feminines ending in a consonant have the ace. sing, the
same as the nom., such as d&d ' deed,' ace. sing. dM] but
in Late OE most of these are declined like synn, with ace.
sing. d&de.
Weak Masculine.
955. Sing. Plur.
Nom. nama ' name ' naman
Ace. naman naman
Dat. naman namum
Gen. naman namena
Weak Neuter. Weak Feminine.
Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur.
Nom. eage ( eye' eagan cirice 'church' cirtc'an
Ace. eage eagan cirican cirican
Dat. eagan eagtim Cirican ciricum
Gen. eagan eagena cirican ciricena
956. There are besides a number of irregular strong
nouns. The most important of these are the mutation-
nouns, such as the masculine mann ' man/ fdt ' foot/ to}>
'tooth/ plur. menu, fet (f<xt\ left, the feminine boc
( book/ gos ' goose/ mus ' mouse/ burg ' city/ plur. bee, ges,
mys, byrig.
304 ACCIDENCE. [§ 957.
Masculine Mutation-nouns.
Sing. Plur.
957. Nom. mann m$nn
Dat. mgnn mannum
Gen. mannes manna
Sing. Plur.
fot fet
fet fotum
fotes fota
Feminine Mutation-nouns.
Sing. Plur.
958. Nom. burg, burh byrig
Dat. byrig bur gum
Sing. Plur.
mus mys
mys musum
Gen. burge burga \ muse musa
959. The masc. sunu 'son' has dat. and gen. sing, and
nom. plur. suna, the fern, duru ' door ' being declined in the
same way. So also the fern, hand has dat. and gen. sing, and
nom. plur. handa, the original -u of the nom. sing, having
been dropped because of the preceding long syllable.
960. Some masc. names of nations occur only in the
plur., ending in -e, such as fngle 'the English/ dat. gn-
glum, gen. fngla. Some of these have a weak gen. plur.,
such as Seaxe ' Saxons/ Mierce ' Mercians/ gen. Seaxna,
Miercna.
961. The relationship-words in -er, or, such as fader
* father/ modor ' mother/ brofior ' brother ' are partly regular,
partly indeclinable, the dat. sing, generally having mutation : —
Sing. Plur.
Nom. fader fader as
Dat. fader faderum
Gen. feeder, fader es fader a
Sing. Plur.
brofror brojyor, bropru
breper broprum
brojjor brofrra
962. Some nouns are indeclinable, such as the abstract
fern, nouns in -«, such as ieldu ' old age/ strgngu ' strength/
The fern, nieht ' night ' is indeclinable in the sing, and in
the nom. plur., the masc. mona}> 'month' being also inde-
clinable in the nom. plur ; we still preserve these unchanged
plurals in the compounds fortnight=£fiL feowerfiene nieht
' fourteen nights ' and twelvemonth. Some nouns are inde-
§ 969.] NOUNS: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 305
clinable in the dat. sing., such as ham ( home/ as in at ham
* at home/
The inflection of nouns is attended by various modifications
which fall under the general head of OE sound-changes.
963. Nouns ending in weak -<?/, ~ol, -en, -er, etc. often
drop their vowel before an inflection beginning with a
vowel, thus se gngel ' angel/ se fugol { bird/ seo sdivol ' soul/
pat wapen ' weapon/ pat wundor ' wonder/ ' miracle/ have
plurals $nglas, fuglas, sdwla, wapnu, wundru. This short-
ening is most frequent after a preceding long syllable, the
weak vowel being generally kept after a short syllable, as in
(Ecer ' field ' plur aceras.
964. For the change of <z into a in such nouns as se dag
' day/ se staf ' staff/ gen. sing, dages, stafes, plur. nom.
dagas, stafas, pat fat ' vessel/ ' dish//«/ dcel ' dale/ ' valley/
gen. sing, fates, dales, plur. nom. fatu, dalu, see § 747.
965. For the dropping of h in such nouns as se Wealh
' Welshman/ plur. Wealas, se seolh ' seal/ plur. seolas, see
§ 761.
966. In Late OE final h and medial g alternate in such
words as se troh (earlier OE frog), plur. trogas, seo burh, gen.
sing, burge, se beorh ' mountain/ plur. beorgas (763).
967. Final -u in the nom. sing, of some nouns, such as se
bearu ' grove/ pat meolu ' meal/ seo sceadu ' shadow/ ' shade/
seo sinu ' sinew ' is a weakening of original w, which reappears
before an inflection beginning with a vowel, as in the gen.
sing, bearwes, meolwes, sceadwe, sinwe. This -u is dropped
after a long syllable, as in seo mad ' meadow/ plur. madwa.
968. The dropping of h before vowels (761) leads to
contraction, as in pat feoh ' money/ gen. sing, feos, Oldest
English feohes.
Early Middle English.
969. In Early Southern the old gender-distinctions in
nouns were still partially kept up. By degrees, however, the
VOL. i. x
306 ACCIDENCE. [§ 970.
inflections of the adjectives and the definite article were
dropped ; and when the Earliest Southern fie, fieo, figt were
levelled — as they soon were — under the uninflected fie, so that
fieo sunne=OE seo synn and/// hus became/*? siinne, fie hus,
the old genders were gradually forgotten, simply because
there was nothing to mark them. From the very begin-
ning of the ME period the natural feminine gender of such
words as wummon, mgiden=QY. wlfmann, mcegden began to
prevail over the grammatical masculine and neuter, these
words being referred to by the feminine pronoun heo ' she/
970. The first great change in the old system of inflec-
tions was the levelling of weak vowels under -e (794). By
this change the distinctions of gender in the OE weak forms
mdna, sunne, eage were levelled in the Early Southern forms
mone, sunne, eie as far as the endings were concerned. The
distinctions of case were almost entirely effaced by this
change in such words as OE sunu, dat. and gen. sing, and
nom. plur. suna, caru, ace., dat., and gen. sg. care, nom. plur.
cara. So also the inflections in OE stdne (dat. sing.), stana (gen.
plur.), scipu (nom. plur.) were levelled under the same final -e.
971. The only endings which could withstand this level-
ling were the gen. sing, -es, the nom. plur. -as, which both
became -es in ME, as in $/#»«= OE stdnes, sldnas, the weak
-an, which became -en, the gen. plur. -ena, which became -ene.
The dat. plur. -urn became -em ; but as this was the only
case ending in m, the consonant was levelled under the more
frequent n, so that ME -en represented OE -urn as well as -an,
as in iveren — QfiL geferan, geferum.
972. The general result of these changes was not only to
obscure the distinctions of the cases, but also in some classes
of nouns to obscure the distinction between singular and
plural. The confusion was most marked in the feminine
nouns, where the changes we have been considering gave the
following as the endings corresponding to those of the OE
nouns caru, synn, sunne respectively : —
§977-3 NOUAK: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 307
Sing. Nom. -e -* -e
Ace. -e -e -en*
Dat. -e -e -en*
Gen. -e -e -en*
Plur. Nom. -e* -e* -en
Dat. -en -en -en
Gen. -ene -e -ene
973. It is evident that the forms marked * in the above
table are in the minority, while at the same time most of them
obscure the distinction between singular and plural. They were
accordingly got rid of by the analogical extension of those
forms which were in the majority and more distinctive. The
-e of care and sunne was extended to the OE wym.'synn, which
became ME siinne. The plural -en of sunnen=OR sunnan
was extended to all feminine nouns — ME car en, sunnen=O5L
cara, synna. As -en was now the distinctive mark of the
plural, it was given up in the singular of sunne, whose oblique
cases took the same form as the nominative, as in the other
two classes. The final result was that all feminine nouns
were uniformly declined as follows : —
Sing. Plur.
Nom. -e -en
Ace. -e -en
Dat. -e -en
Gen. -e -ene
974. As might be expected, the gen. plur. -ene was often
levelled under the other plural cases, becoming -en.
975. Weak masculines and neuters were declined in the
same way — sing, name, eie, plur. namen, eien. The only
distinction between masculine and neuter weak nouns —
namely in the ace. sing. (OE naman, eage) was thus lost.
976. The originally strong masculine sune= OE sunu was
naturally regarded as a weak noun, and formed its plural
sunen.
977. -f=the OE neuter plur. ending -u was made into
X 2
308 ACCIDENCE. [§978.
-en in the same way for the sake of distinctness, as in deoflen,
children— OE deoflu, cildru, sing, deovel, child. In many of
these words -£=OE -u was extended to the singular, as in
dale ' valley/ bede ' prayer/ = OE dcel,gebed, plur. dalu,gebedu.
These OE plurals became dalen, beden in ME.
978. The remaining masculine and neuter nouns kept
their original strong forms. The dat. sing, in -e was kept at
first, but often dropped, because such forms as weie, worde=.
OE wege, worde suggested a weak singular, and so the dat.
sing, was levelled under the nom. in such words — wet, word
— in accordance with the general ME tendency. The dat.
plur. -*«=OE -urn was disused for a similar reason — because
it suggested a weak plural — being kept only in a few adverbial
phrases, such as vour sipen ' four times ' = Qi}Lfeower sipum,
the nom, plur. being used as a dative. The gen. plur. -e=
OE -a was sometimes kept, but the more distinct weak ending
-ene was often used instead — kingene, as in alre kingene king
' king of all kings/ wordene instead of kinge, worde — both of
these forms being gradually supplanted by the nominative.
In the neuter plur. the OE undeclined forms were still kept —
hiis, word — but the strong masc. ending was often extended
to the neuters, so as to distinguish the two numbers — hiises,
wordes.
The following are then the regular Early Southern ME
noun-inflections, those which are liable to be dropped being
in( ):-
Strong Masculine and Neuter.
979. Sing.
Nom. st$n -word
Dat. stgn(e] word(e]
Gen. stynes wordes
Plur.
stijnes word, wordes
stgnes, (sifieri) word, wordes
stgne(ne), stgnes worde(ne) , wordes
980. The neuters child, ji ' egg ' have plur. children,
jiren, corresponding to OE cildru, a'gru.
984.] NOUNS: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 309
Strong and Weak Feminine.
981. Sing.
Nom. siinne, chirche
Dat. siinne, chirche
Gen. siinne, chirche
Plur.
siinnen, chirchen
siinnen, chirchen
siinnen(e), chirchen(e)
982. Some originally strong feminines do not take -e in
the nom. and ace. sing., such as hynd ' hand/ miht ' might,'
cu ' cow.'
Weak Masculine and Neuter.
983. Sing.
Nom. iv ere eie
Dat. mere eie
Gen. ivere eie
Plur.
iveren eien
iveren eien
iveren(e) eien(e)
984. Those of the old mutation plurals which are still
preserved in MnE were of course kept in Early ME as well :
man (mon), vot, top, gos, mus, plur. men, vet, tej>, ges, mUs.
The OE wifmann plur. wlfmenn appears in Early Southern
ME as wummon, wummen, in Early Midland as wtmman,
wimmen. In all these words the mutation was confined to the
plur., such OE datives as menn being made into monne or
mon. In the plur. on the other hand the mutated forms were
gradually extended to the dat. and gen., men supplanting
manne, mannen. Most of the feminine irregular nouns do
not take e in the nom. and ace. sing. The OE feminine
noun burg appears in ME sometimes as burh, sometimes
as burwe plur. burwen, later burwes, the old mutated dat.
sing, being preserved as the second element of place-names
in the form of -btiri — in the other dialects -beri, -biri — as
in Canterbiiri ' Canterbury ' = the OE dat. Cantwarabyrig.
This 'arose from the phrase 'at the city/ at governing the
dative in OE, as in cet fidire byrig, which became at ter biiri
in ME (767), whence the MnE Atterbury. In the case of
boc, plur. bdken, bdkes, the mutation was completely lost.
310 ACCIDENCE. [§985.
985. The relationship-words vader, moder, siister gener-
ally remained unchanged in the sing., having the regular
plurals vaderes, modren, siistren. broker of course lost the
OE mutation in the dat. sing., which became broker. But
this mutation was transferred to the plur. on the analogy of
fet, men, etc., so that <5rJ/r<?=OE bropru became brepre, and
then, by the usual change of plural -e into -en, brepren.
986. niht, mone}> and some others remained uninflected in
the plural.
987. The OE vowel-change in dag, plur. dag as, was
preserved in the ME dgi, dai plur. dawes, although a new
plur. dates was soon formed direct from the sing. dat.
988. Final e was dropped after a weak vowel, as in Igfdi
' lady '=OE hldfdige. The plural ending -s without a vowel
occurs only in long French words, as in parlurs ' parlours/
vestimenz ' vestments/ where z = (ts).
In Old French such a word as vestiment is inflected thus —
Sing. Norn, vestimenz Plur. Nom. vestiment
Ace. vestiment Ace. vestimenz
As the distinction between nom. and ace. had been lost in
ME, the French -s was naturally identified with the English
plur- inflection -es.
989. In Early Midland and Northern the distinctions
of grammatical gender were entirely lost during the transition
from OE, the distinction between strong and weak forms
being also done away with, except in a few isolated forms.
The natural consequence was that the -es of the genitive
was extended to weak nouns and to all feminine nouns, the
plur. -«• being then extended in the same way, first to
strong neuters, then to weak nouns and feminine nouns
generally. The final result was that the only regular inflec-
tions left were gen. sing, -es, plur. nom. and gen. -es, the
distinction between nom. and gen. plur. being kept up only
in irregular plurals such as men, gen. niennes.
§994-] XOUNS: LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH. 311
Late Middle-English.
990. Standard ME follows the Early Midland dialect
in its noun-inflections : it has only one case, the genitive ;
the original nominative, accusative, and dative being now
merged in one ' common case ' : —
Sing. Common word, sinne
Gen. wordes, sinnes
Plur. Common wordes, sinnes
man
mannes
men
mennes
Gen. wordes, sinnes
991. The e of -es — the gen. as well as the plur. ending-
is often dropped in English as well as French words after
a weak syllable, as mfaders (also/ddres), Iddys (also ladyes),
and after a strong vowel, in order to avoid hiatus, as in fgs
' foes/ Also in pens = earlier penies, of which pens was
originally the weak form, the word having lost its stress in
such combinations as twg penies [compare the Mn. E. two-
pence (tupans)].
992. The whole ending -es is often dropped in French
words and proper names ending in a hiss-consonant, as in
the gen. sing. Troilus, Vjnus, and the plurals cds 'cases/
vers (also verses).
This is the result of French influence, for in Old French such
a word as vers, whose s is part of the body of the word, was
necessarily indeclinable : —
Sing. Nom. vers Plur. Nom. vers
Ace. vers Ace. vers
993. Originally feminine nouns sometimes keep their
earlier j-less gen. sing., as in pe chirche dpre, his lady grace.
We still preserve this form in Lady-day compared with
Lord's day.
994. Many originally neuter nouns with unchanged
plurals still keep these, such as folk, der, hors, njt * cattle/
shep, swin, kin ' kind/ ping, ygr. It must be observed that
most of these plurals have a collective meaning; thus the
312 A CCIDENCE. [§ 995.
plur./0/£ is oftener used in the sense of ' people in general '
than in that of * nations/ and in MnE swine is used exclusively
in the collective plural sense, not being used in the singular
at all. The invariable plurals night, monefr, winter (OE plur.
wintru, winter] are also kept. But several of these words begin
to take the regular plural ending, especially when not preceded
by numerals : fringes, yjres, monies, fot when used as a
measure was also made invariable in the plural on the
analogy of the old neuter pound, and the Other invariable words
which were frequently joined to numerals, such as winter.
995. In its general meaning fot keeps its mutation-plural
fet. So also man, wom(m)an, top, etc. have plurals men,
wom(m}en, tefr, etc.
996. The weak plural-ending -en is preserved not only
in oxe plur. oxen, but also in other words which have now
lost it in the spoken language, such as asche, aschen, hgse,
u • eye/ len, fg ' foe/ fgn, tg « toe/ tgn, scho ' shoe/ schon.
In other words this ending is a ME extension, as in brefrren,
children, dohtren, sustren. cow has plur. /£>>« = OE cu, plur.
cy, the northern dialect keeping the older form kt.
Modern English.
997. By the beginning of the MnE period the s of
inflectional -es had been voiced (861), (s) being kept
only in monosyllables such as geese, pence. In Early
MnE the e was kept after a hiss-consonant for the sake of
distinctness, as in horses (horsez), and was dropped every-
where else, the (z) being necessarily unvoiced after a
voiceless consonant, as in beasts (busts) from beastes (twstez),
while it was of course preserved after vowels and voiced
consonants, as in days, heads (heedz).
998. The ME dropping of -es after hiss-consonants is
still kept up in a few phrases such as for old acquaintance
sake, for Jesus sake; but in the spoken language the -es is
§999-1 NOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 313
generally kept, as in St. James s Square, where it is also
written. Such genitives as jEneas\ Socrates wife occur
only in the literary language ; in the spoken language the
full -es is added, or else the construction of jEneas etc. is
used.
One result of the contraction of inflectional -es in MnE is that
radical s has been sometimes mistaken for the plural inflection,
so that an original singular has been made into a plural, as in
the case of alms, eaves, riches, summons : these ' apparent
plurals' correspond to the OE singulars cslmesse, gfese (plur.
gfesan) and the Old French singulars richesse, semonse.
Most of these apparent plurals are not used in the singular ;
but summons is used in the sing, without any change — a
summons. There are some plurals which form a curtailed sin-
gular by throwing off the radical final s. Thus the collective
plural pease=-\.\\& OE weak plural piosan has developed a sin-
gular pea, whence a new orthographic plural peas has been
formed. In vulgar English such curtailed singulars are fre-
quently formed from names of nations in -ese, such as Chinee,
Portuguee from Chinese, Portuguese*
Inflectional plurals often come to be used as singulars by
change of meaning, such as news, sixpence. They may then
form new plurals, such as sixpences.
999. The ME (and OE) alternation of breath and voice
consonants in the inflection of such native words as wif,
gen. sing, wives, plur. wives has been kept up only partially
in MnE. It has been entirely abandoned in the gen. sing.,
which is now formed afresh from the common case — wife's.
We still keep the voice consonant in «uch plurals as wives,
paths (paatSz), but such a plural as the earlier MnE turves
has been made into turfs.
We still keep the gen. sing, calves in the compounds calves-
head, calves-foot expressing articles of food j otherwise calf has
the regular gen. sing, calf's.
The following are the main types of noun-inflection in
Present English : —
314 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1000.
100O. Sing. Common hos dog kaet waif guvvs maen
Gen. hosiz dogz kaets waifs guwsiz maenz
Plur. Common hosiz dogz kaets waivz gijs men
Gen. hosiz dogz ksets waivz gijsiz menz
Present English has developed a vocative case in a few
words (1004. i).
Like horse are inflected words ending in the hisses (s, z ;
J, 5), such as piece, box, size, adze, fish, church (tj^tj), age
(eM3).
Like dog are inflected nouns ending in a vowel or any
voiced consonant except (z, 5), such as day, lady, neighbour
(neiba), mile, dove, son, lord.
Dice (for gaming) and pence, the plurals of die and penny
have (s) because they were shortened to monosyllables already
in ME, dies (for coining) and pennies being new-formations
from the singulars on the analogy of the regular plurals days,
ladies, etc.
Like cat are inflected nouns ending in any breath con-
sonant except (s, J), such as earth, cliff, clerk, bishop.
1001. All the nouns inflected like wife — 'voice-breath
nouns' — show a long syllable before the inflection in Late
ME, as in staves=Late ME staves (Early ME slaves}, wolves
= ME wulves. Hence nouns with original short i never
make this change— -piths (pips), cliffs. The only voice-
breath noun ending in (s) is house, plural houses (hauziz).
The chief voice-breath nouns in (f>) are bath (baaj>), baths
(baafcz)=Late ME &]>, bapes (ba]?, baaSes), path, oath,
mouth, clothes was originally the plural of cloth, which now
forms a regular plural of its own — cloths. The great
majority of nouns in (f») keep the breath-sound in the plural ;
such nouns are moth, death, hearth, health, birth. Some,
such as lath, truth, youth have both pronunciations, that with
voice consonants in the plural being, of course, the older
one. Nouns in -f show the change more frequently :
after long Late ME vowels, as in life, knife, wife, thief, leaf,
§ zoos.] NOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 315
loaf] after /, as in half, calf, elf, self, shelf, wolf. Nouns in
-rf, such as dwarf, scarf, turf, wharf, made this change
in Early MnE— dwarves, etc.— but they now generally keep
the /"in the plural — dwarfs, etc. Nouns in -oo/a\so keep the
f, as in hoofs, roofs. So also belief. But the French noun
beef still keeps its plural beeves, which, however, is now iso-
lated from its singular, through the latter having lost its
original meaning ' ox/ staves was originally the plural of
j/0/~(Late ME staf, staves), but having diverged from it in
meaning, it has now developed a new singular stave, while
staff itself has developed a new plural staffs, as in army staffs.
IRREGULAR PLURALS.
1002. The following mutation-plurals are still in
common use : man, men ; woman, women (wum9n, wimin),
this plur. being Southern in spelling, though Midland in
pronuncation;/00/,/^/; goose, geese \ tooth, teeth ; louse, lice;
mouse, mice.
1003. The only n-plurals in common use are ox, oxen ;
child, children, brother now has the regular plural brothers,
the old plural brethren being used only in a metaphorical
sense, cow also has a regular plural cows, the older kine
occurring only in the higher literary language.
1004. sheep and deer keep their unchanged plurals.
Weak (-man), as in tradesman, gentleman, Englishman is also
invariable.
The full sound (-men) is, however, preserved in addressing
a number of people, so we can distinguish the common plural
(dsentlman) from the vocative plur. (dsentlmen).
1005. These are the only absolutely invariable words. In
all other invariable words the unchanged plural implies either
measure or collectiveness. As in Late ME, so also in MnE
many nouns of measure have an unchanged plural only when
preceded by a numeral, as in two dozen knives compared with
dozens of knives ; and many of them keep it only in groups or
316 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1006.
compounds such as ten-pound note compared with ten pounds,
the earlier MnE ten pound being now obsolete or vulgar. It
is only when a noun of measure is used also as an ordinary
descriptive noun that it occasionally keeps its unchanged
plural under all circumstances, as in how many stone does he
weigh ?
1006. While the use of the unchanged plural of measure
has been gradually restricted in MnE, the unchanged collec-
tive plural has been extended, swine has now lost its sin-
gular, the sing, and separative plur. being expressed by pig,
pigs. But in most cases the collective and separative plurals
are used side by side, as in to catch fish compared with the
story of the three fishes.
These details belong rather to Syntax than to Accidence, and
will be considered more fully under the former head.
FOREIGN PLURALS.
1007. Many foreign words — especially Latin and Greek —
keep their original plurals, but some of them have also
regular English plurals ; some have the two plurals in
different meanings. Some are used only in the plural. Some
are unchanged in the plural.
1008. The most important Latin endings are : —
-a . . . -SB : formula, formula ; larva, nebula. minulicB is
used only in the plural.
-us . . . -i : fungus, fungi ; hippopotamus, nucleus, radius,
terminus, tumulus, anthropophagi, Magi, literati occur only
in the plural. The regular plurals funguses, hippopotamuses
etc., also occur, especially in the spoken language, crocus
always has plural crocuses, genius in its ordinary meaning
has the regular plural geniuses ; in that of ' spirit '' it keeps the
Latin plural genii. Latin nouns in -us which form their
plurals by other endings than -i, either keep them, as in
genus, plur. genera, or else make them regular, as in census,
plur. censuses (Latin census, plur. census].
§ioio.] NOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 317
-um . . . -a : desideratum, desiderata ; erratum, effluvium.
Many of these are used only in the plural : addenda, agenda,
arcana, data, ephemera, memorandum has plur. memoranda
and memorandums. Others, such as encomium, millenium
have only j-plurals.
In the spoken language there is a tendency to make the
^-plural into a singular from which a new plural is formed.
Thus stratum, strata is made into strata, stratus on the analogy
of the ending -er, -or, etc., animal culuin, animalcula is made
into animalcula, animalcula on the analogy of formula, for-
mula. The difficulties in connection with the last word are
best avoided by using the shortened form animalcule, plur.
animalcules.
-is ... -es : analysis, analyses ; axis, basis, crisis, hypothe-
sis, metamorphosis, oasis, parenthesis. antipodes, aborigines
are used only in the plur. In these latter the ending is
pronounced distinctly (-ijz). So also in careful speaking we
distinguish the plur. (parenfnsijz) from the sing, (parenjrisis),
but in ordinary speech the -es is shortened to (-is) so that
no distinction is made between sing, and plur. in the more
familiar words.
-es .... -es : series, species, superficies. These plurals
are unchanged both in spelling and pronunciation — (siariz,
siariz).
-ix, -yx, -ex . . . -ices: index, indices', helix, calyx,
vortex. These plurals hardly occur in the spoken language,
which substitutes the regular forms in familiar words : indexes,
calyxes. The former of these plurals is also used in writing,
the plur. indices being necessary only when the word has
its special mathematical meaning.
1009. There are other isolated Latin plurals: genus,
genera ; stamen, stamina. But stamen generally has a regular
plur. stamens, and stamina is now used as a sing, in a special
sense.
1010. -on ... -a is a Greek plur. : phenomenon, pheno-
318 ACCIDENCE. [§IOIT.
mena ; anacoluthon, automaton, criterion. The three last also
have regular plurals, as also phenomenon in the groups infant
phenomenon etc.
1011. We have Italian plurals in bandit, banditti [also
bandits] ; dilettante, dilettanti — where the English pronuncia-
tion (dili'ta3nti) makes no distinction between sing, and plur.
— virtuoso, virtuosi [also virtuosos].
1012. The Hebrew plurals cherubim, seraphim are collec-
tive, and are occasionally used as singulars in Early MnE —
a cherubim, cherub and seraph also have regular plurals,
especially in their metaphorical meanings.
1013. The French plural ending x in beaux (also beaus),
flambeaux is pronounced (z).
1014. The plural of Mr. (mistar) is expressed by the dif-
ferent word Messrs, (mesaz), in full Messieurs. Mr. is a weak
form of ME meister from old French meistre, the correspond-
ing strong form being master. Messieurs is the French mes
Sieurs 'my Lords/ the sing, of which is Monsieur. The
plural of the feminine Madam = French ma Dame 'my Lady'
is Mesdames= French mes Dames * my Ladies/ which, however,
is not much used in English.
1015. The tendency of the language now is to get rid of
foreign plurals as much as possible, except where the foreign
plur. marks a difference of meaning.
INFLECTION OF WORD-GROUPS.
Genitive.
1016. When adjunct- words are joined to a noun so as to
form a word-group, the genitive inflection is added to the last
member of the group, whether that last member is the head-
noun or not, as in the old king's son, king Alfred's son, the
king of England's son, the man I saw yesterday' s son. So also
in group-compounds : the knight-err ant's, the son-in-law's.
§ loao. J NOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 319
1017. In the first example given above the inflections of
the words preceding kings have simply been dropped — OE
JXBS ealdan cyninges sunu. In the second example the inflec-
tion of king has been dropped — OE JE l/redes cyninges sunu.
The third example shows a further step, which was first made
in MnE, the ME construction being ]>e kinges sum of Eng-
land. A still further step is made in the fourth example, in
which the genitive ending is added to an indeclinable adverb,
inflecting really the whole group the-man-I-saw-y ester day.
Hence in the first example also we may regard the -s as
inflecting not king, but the whole group the-old-king.
Plural.
1018. The principle of group-inflection is not carried so
far with the plural ending. When a noun is modified by a
following adverb or preposition-group, the noun itself is
inflected, as in hangers-on^ fathers-in-law, commander s-in-
chief. If the first element is not a noun, the inflection is
naturally put at the end, as in the three-per-cents, go-betiveens,
forgetmenots .
1019. In the rare combination of a noun with a following
adjective the same rule was formerly followed, as in courts-
martial, knights-errant, but now it is more usual to put the
inflection at the end, in accordance with the general tendency
of the language — court-martials, knight-err ants — except in
such groups as states-general, in which the old plural has
become fixed, through the sing, being disused. In groups
consisting of two titles both elements are inflected, as in
lords-lieutenants, lords-justices, knights-templars. So also in
men-servants, women-servants.
1020. When a noun of title etc. is put before another
noun, the older rule was that the adjunct-noun took the in-
flection. We still follow this rule in the combination Messrs.
Smith ; but such combinations as the Misses Smith, the brothers
320 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1021.
Smith now sound pedantic, the former being also liable to
cause confusion with Mrs. (misiz), and in colloquial language
it is usual to say the Miss Smiths, the two Doctor Thomsons,
etc., the construction in the case of brothers, etc., being often
evaded by saying the Smith brothers.
SPELLING.
1021. The e of the plural -es is always kept in writing
when pronounced, as in fishes, or when required to show the
sound of a preceding letter, as in clothes compared with cloths.
But superfluous e is still kept in many instances. Thus it is
always written after v (824), as in shelves. Final y is written
ie before plural-.?, as in spies, cities. This is a tradition of
Early MnE, in which ie was written in the singular as well
(825), as it still is in some words, such as lie, die — both of
which are verbs as well as nouns — the old equivalent^ being
still written in lye, dye for the sake of distinction, y preceded
by another vowel is kept unchanged, as in days, boys. Weak
-ey was till lately changed into ie before the plural -s, and this
spelling is still frequent in some words, such as ponies, but in
most words there is no change — chimneys, valleys, alkali
has plural alkalies, the few other words in -i — none of which
are in frequent use — generally adding the -s without e, as in
rabbis. Most words in frequent use have plural -oes whether
the singular ends in -oe or simple -o : foe, foes ; woe, woes ;
potato, potatoes ; negro, negroes. Nouns in -to take only -s, as
in folios, ratios, as also most of the less familiar words:
dominos, grottos, virtuosos, quartos. The endings -ies, -oes
were kept to show that the s was voiced, = (z), simple -is, -os
suggesting the breath sound (s), as in this, crisis, chaos. The
plurals of proper names and of words belonging to other
parts of speech used as nouns are sometimes written in the
ordinary way, sometimes by adding s preceded by an apo-
strophe, so as to distinguish the body of the word from the
§1022.] NOUNS : MODERN ENGLISH. 331
ending, the apostrophe being often omitted when there is no
fear of confusion : ayes and noes, ayes and no's, pro's and cons,
pros and cons, the two Mary's, the two Marys, the Perezes, to
mind one's P's and Qs. Proper names ending in a hiss-
consonant simply add the apostrophe, as in the Chambers'
and Cassells of the future, also written Chamber ses in accord-
ance with the pronunciation.
1022. The written genitive ending is V, which is added to
the common singular form without any further change : mans,
lady's, negro's. The regular gen. plur. of nouns is distin-
guished in writing from the gen. sing, by the apostrophe
being put after the genitive inflection, as in birds' nests com-
pared with a bird's nest, the negroes quarter (gen. sing.
negro' s\ beaux' (gen. sing, beau's). The gen. plur. of such
irregular nouns as man is written in the same way as the gen.
sing. : man's, men's ; gooses, geese's. The apostrophe by
itself is often written in the gen. sing, of nouns ending in a
hiss-consonant, especially proper names: Socrates' wisdom,
Chambers' Cyclopedia, Cox cleverness. This spelling was
originally phonetic (998); but the full (-iz) is now always
kept in pronunciation, the corresponding spelling Chambers s,
etc. being also used. In Early MnE the apostrophe was
at first intended only to show contraction of -es, and was
accordingly used freely in the plural as well as the genitive
inflection, the spelling bird's being, of course, used for the
gen. plur. as well as the gen. sing. The gradual restriction
of the apostrophe to the genitive apparently arose from the
belief that such a genitive as prince's in the prince's book was
a shortening of prince his, as shown by such spellings as the
prince his book. This belief and this spelling arose very
naturally from the fact that prince's and prince his had the
same sound, weak his having dropped its (h) in such colloca-
tions even in the OE period (865). Besides being a mark of
contraction the apostrophe was found useful in distinguishing
between the body of an unfamiliar word and its inflections,
VOL. i. Y
322 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1023.
being still used for this purpose even in the plural inflection
(1021). Hence it was liable to be omitted in familiar words
—whether plurals or genitives. We still generally write the
genitives its, hers, yours without it, though we write ones.
ADJECTIVES.
Inflections.
OLD ENGLISH.
1023. In OE the adjectives have the three genders of
nouns, and the same inflections, though with partially different
forms, together with the distinction of strong and weak. In
the strong masc. and neut. sing, they have an instrumental
case, which in the feminine, in the plural, and in the weak
declension —as also in the noun-inflections — is represented
by the dative.
1024. Adjectives agree with their nouns in gender,
number, and case : hie comon mid langum scipum, nd mant-
gum 'they came with long ships, not many/
1025. The weak form is used after the definite article and
other defining words, as in se goda cyning * the good king/ se
hdlga * the holy (man)/ whence the weak masc. noun halga
' saint/ pas hdlgan cyningas ' these holy kings/ compared with
sum god cyning « a certain good king/ hdlge mgnn ' holy men/
The weak form is also used as a vocative : pu leo/a freond 1
f thou dear friend ! '
1026. The following are the strong inflections of god, the
forms which differ from those of the nouns being marked * : —
Masc. Neut. Fern.
Sing. Nom. god god god
Ace. godne* god gode
Dat. godum* godum* godre*
§ 1029.] ADJECTIVES. 323
Instr. gode gode godre*
Gen. godes godes godre*
Plur. Nom. gode* god gode*
^ Y-= -^
Dat. goduni
Gen. godra*
1027. The weak forms are identical with those of the weak
nouns, except in the gen. plur., which, however, sometimes
appears as -ena with the same ending as in the nouns, instead
of taking the ending of the strong adjectives : —
Sing. Nom.
Ace.
Dat.
Gen.
Plur. Nom.
Dat.
Gen.
Masc.
goda
godan
godan
godati
Neut.
gode
gode
godan
godan
Fem.
gode
godan
godan
godan
^Y^
godan
godum
godra*
1028. The -u of the strong fern. nom. sing, and the strong
neut. nom. plur. is kept under the same circumstances as in the
noun-inflections; thus sum ' some' has sumu in the above cases,
as opposed to the long-syllable god. Adjectives in -el, -en,
etc. drop the e as in noun-inflection ; thus hdlig, mtcel, agen
' own,' have plurals hdlge, micle, dgne. Where final -u is a
weakening of -w, the w is restored before an inflection begin-
ning with a vowel, as in nearu ' narrow/ salu ' sallow/ geolu
' yellow/ plurals nearwe, salwe, geolwe. In late OE final
-h alternates with medial g in such forms as genoh ( enough '
[earlier genog], plur. genoge. The dropping of weak h
between vowels leads to contraction ; thus heah ' high/
Mercian heh, has plural hea (from heahe) in Mercian as well
as Early West- Saxon, which in the later language is made
into heage on the analogy of genoh, genoge.
1029. Some adjectives are indeclinable, such as fela
' many.'
Y 2
324 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1030.
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
1030. The levelling of noun-inflections in ME and the loss
of gender distinctions naturally led to the disregard of concord.
Hence the case-endings in the singular of strong adjectives
began to fall off at the beginning of the ME period. The
distinction between singular and plural and between strong
and weak inflection was preserved in the adjectives as well
as in the nouns, god represented the strong singular, gdde
the strong plural and the weak singular. As the weak form
of the adjective was generally followed by a noun, it was
superfluous to mark the distinction of number in the adjec-
tive, and consequently the weak singular ending -e was used
also in the plural. The result was that in Late ME the
adjective had only two inflections, one positive, in -e, the
other negative, consisting in the absence of the inflec-
tional -e : —
Strong Sing, god Weak Sing, gdde
Plur. gdde Plur. gdde
1031. The weak form is used much as in OE : pe yonge
sonne 'the young sun//w like monk 'this same monk/ my
swgrne broker * my sworn brother,' leve broker / ' dear
brother ! '
1032. Adjectives in -e, such as newe ' new/ are, of course,
invariable. Other adjectives become invariable by dropping
the inflectional -e after a weak syllable, especially -/', as in pe
hgli man, but also in such adjectives as gpen, cursed, honest.
1033. In the Northern dialect all adjectives became in-
declinable already in the Early period through loss of final
weak -e.
1034. The old cases were partially preserved in the Earliest
ME. The gen. plur. ending -r*=OE -ra, as in a/re kingene
&tng=OE eallra cyninga cyning, lingered longest, because
of its distinctiveness. In Late ME alder, from earlier alre
through aldre, became a sort of prefix to superlatives, as in
§ I036.J ADJECTIVES. 325
alderbest ' best of all ' ; in Early MnE Shakespere still has
alderliefest ' dearest of all/
MODERN ENGLISH.
1035. In MnE the loss of final -<? made the adjectives in-
declinable as far as case and number are concerned. Adjec-
tives thus became formally indistinguishable from adverbs,
except by their syntactical relations, the only change of form
that was left to them^namely comparison — being shared by
adverbs. But Early MnE still preserved a trace of the ME
inflections in the distinction between enough sing., enow plur.
= ME inoh, indwe.
Comparison.
OLD-ENGLISH.
1036. In OE the comparative is formed by adding -ra and
is declined like a weak adjective, as in leof-ra ( dearer' masc.,
leofre fern, and neut., the corresponding adverbs ending in -or :
leofor, heardor. The superlative is formed by adding -osf, and
may be either strong or weak: leofost 'dearest/ se leofosta mann,
The uninflected form of the superlative is used also as an ad-
verb : leofost, hear dost. Some adjectives form their comparison
with mutation, the superlative ending in -«/, as in lang ' long/
Igngre, longest ', neah ' near/ superlative riiehst, niext (Anglian
nek, nest, next}. In some comparisons the comparative and
superlative are formed from a word distinct from that which
constitutes the positive : god [adverb wef\t bgtera [adverb £//],
bgtst. The positive of some comparatives and superlatives is
represented only by an adverb; thus to arra 'former' (in time)
cerest ' first ' corresponds the adverb ar ' formerly/ Many
of these form the superlative with -m, which is an older form
than -j/. The original form of this superlative is seen in
for-ma 'first/ the positive of which is represented by the
326 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1037.
adverb fore ' before.' But in most cases the meaning of this
old superlative ending was forgotten, and the ending -st was
added — generally with mutation — giving the double superla-
tive -mest. Thus from, forma the new superlative fyrmest
1 most foremost/ ' first ' was formed. Other examples are
innemest, norpmest from inne ' inside/ norj> l north/
MIDDLE-ENGLISH.
1037. In Early ME the endings are -re, -ere [adverbial
-er\, -est\ leof, leof re \leov er\, leaves t. The insertion of e
in the comparative ending -ere is probably due to the influ-
ence of the superlative. In Late ME the final -e of -ere was
dropped, because preceded by a weak syllable, so that the
distinction between adjective and adverb was levelled.
MODERN ENGLISH.
1038. In MnE the endings are the same as in Late ME —
-er, -est. We have also a periphrastic comparison, which
consists in prefixing the adverbs more, most, as in beautiful,
more beautiful, most beautiful by the side of hard, harder,
hardest. Periphrastic comparison appears already in Early
ME. At first the two methods of comparison were used
indiscriminately ; but by degrees the periphrastic comparison
has come in MnE to be applied chiefly to longer and more
unfamiliar adjectives, the inflectional comparison being
restricted more and more to the shorter adjectives, namely —
(a) monosyllables, such as big, high, young, sad.
(b) dissyllabic adjectives with the stress on the last
syllable, such as polite, severe, complete, minute. But many of
these have the periphrastic comparison, which is the more
usual of the two when the adjective ends in a heavy con-
sonant-group, as in abrupt, correct, distinct, ancient, fre-
quent.
(c) many dissyllabic adjectives with the stress on the
§ io42.] ADJECTIVES. 327
first syllable, such as tender, bitter, narrow, happy, easy, early,
lovely, and others in -ly, able, simple, wholesome, cruel. Those in
-ish, -j-,and -j/have the periphrastic comparison, so as to avoid
the repetition of the hiss-consonant in the superlative : selfish,
childish ; adverse ; honest, earnest, modest. So also those in
-ive, such as active, apparently because most of them are long
words, the shorter ones being mostly words whose meaning
does not lend itself to comparison. Such an adjective as
pleasant, on the contrary, is compared by inflection in spite
of its heavy ending, because its meaning makes it liable to
frequent comparison.
1039. The periphrastic comparison is followed —
(a) by all adjectives of more than two syllables, such as
difficult, ignorant, important, comfortable, respectable — all of
which have besides heavy endings — curious, generous^ necessary,
general, satisfactory.
(b) by those in -ful, such as useful, awful, cheerful,
respectful.
(c) by those in -ed and -ing : learned, wretched, wicked-,
cunning, tempting, charming, improving. These adjectives
are not inflected because they have the form of verbals,
although some of them, such as wretched and cunning, are
of a different origin, wicked sometimes has superlative
wickedest.
1040. In Early ME such comparisons as more sad, most
sad, beautifuller, beautifullest were frequent ; and they are still
used in poetry and the higher prose.
1041. Double comparison was frequent in Early MnE,
as in more braver^ most unkindest. This now survives only
as a vulgarism.
IRREGULAR COMPARISON.
1042. In ME and MnE the old mutation in such com-
parisons as OE lang (Igng, Ijjng], Igngre, longest was gradually
got rid of by the introduction of the vowel of the positive,
328 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1043.
whence the MnE longer, longest. Mutation is preserved only
in a few irregular and isolated forms. Other irregularities
are the result of ME sound-changes — late, latter— of various
confusions and mixtures of originally distinct words and
forms— far, further — and of the retention, of different-word
comparatives and superlatives — good, better.
1043. The double superlative ending •*«<?,?/ was naturally
associated with mast ' most/ and already in Late OE we find
such forms 2&ytm<zst by the side otytemest from ute^ outside';
in ME we find the endings -mest and -mgst side by side, the
latter ultimately getting the upper hand. In the few cases of
mutation the vowel of the positive was gradually extended
to the other two degrees; already in OE we find uiemest
instead of ytemest. So also OE fyrmest was made into
firmest in ME by the influence of/orma znAfore, whence the
MnE foremost. In OE the positives of ceftemest 'last' and
nipemest ' lowest ' were represented by the adverbs after
'after' and niper^ neopor 'downwards,' 'down,' these being
themselves old comparatives. In ME the full forms of the
positives after, neper were introduced into the superlatives,
whence the MnE aftermost, nethermost, a new superlative
undermost being formed on the analogy of nethermost. A
superlative ending -ermost having thus established itself, other
superlatives of place were formed directly from comparatives
by adding -most, as in lowermost, uppermost in imitation of
nethermost and undermost, uttermost by the side of utmost, inner-
most. So also horn, further was formed a superlative /#r//for-
most, from which again was formed a double comparative
furthermore, perhaps partly by the influence of evermore.
The OE midmest was made into middlemost, and on the
analogy of this form superlatives such as highmost were
formed direct from adjectives, highmost being perhaps
regarded as a transposition of most high. To the OE
superlatives norpmest, supmest correspond as positives the
adverbs norp, sup, which were also used as nouns. Hence
§io47.] ADJECTIVES. 329
in MnE we have superlatives in -most formed directly from
nouns, such as topmost, endmost.
The following are the irregular comparisons of MnE : —
7 , ( elder eldest \
1044. old \older oldest\
OE eald (did], ieldra (§ldra\ ieldest (eldest}. The com-
parisons elder, eldest are used to express differences of age
from a more abstract point of view than older, oldest, as in
elder brother compared with he is older than he looks.
•m/iK / /„ J latter last
1045. late latgr
OE Icet 'slow' [adv. late 'slowly/ Mate'], Icetra [adv.
lator], latost. latter— ME later with back-shortening, last
is a shortening of ME latest, not by phonetic change, but
apparently by the analogy of best, least, etc. When latter and
last developed special meanings, the new comparisons later,
latest were formed directly from late.
( utter utmost, uttermost \
1U40. out j oufer outmost, outermost \
OE ute adv. ' outside,' y terra [adv. utor\, ytmest, ytemest.
Even in OE the vowel of the positive is extended to the
other degrees: uterra, utemest, whence by back-shortening
the MnE utter, etc., outer, etc. being new-formations from out.
1047 far \farther farthest}
1U47. far \jurther furthest]
QHLfeorr adv. and occasionally adj. ' far'fierra [adv.yfcrr],
fierrest. feorr became by regular change MEfer, MnEfar.
To the OE adverb fore ' before/ ' in front ' corresponds the
comparative/wr/ra \pfa*fur)>(nr\ superl._/j/r^/, fyrst, forma,
fyrmest. The comparative adverb fierr was soon confused
with the positive feorr in ME through the tendency to give
up mutation in comparison, and the more distinct/wr/^r took
its place, fierr and furpor having nearly the same meaning.
When ME j£r.r/=OE fyrst became the ordinal numeral
33° ACCIDENCE. [§ 1048.
corresponding to gn ' one ' — taking the place of OE forma
'first' — a new superlative furpest was formed fromy#r/£r=
OE furfror. Lastly, the vowel of the positive was extended
to the other degrees, giving farther, farthest. The old
superlative forma being no longer recognizable as such, was
regarded as a positive, whence a new comparative former
was made in imitation of latter.
\t\AQ -jrj. J near next )
1048. nigh \nmrer nearest\
OE neah (neti) adverb (rarely adjective), nearra [adv. near],
niehst, niext (next}. The MnE positive adjective and adverb
near is the old comparative adverb, made into a positive on
the analogy of here, there as well as far. It is compared
regularly nearer, nearest^ the old superlative next being
isolated from it. The old positive is represented by the
adjective and adverb night which is obsolete in the spoken
language.
1049. good (well) better best
OE god [adv. wel\, bgtera [adv. £//], fytst. The dropping
of the / in best is not phonetic, but is the result of the
influence of mcesf, etc.
1050. bad worse worst
OE y/el, wiersa [adv. wters], superl. wierrest, wierst,
Anglian wyrsa, etc. In ME ill from Scandinavian illr
came into use concurrently with iivel, ivel, eve!, our present
evil being the Kentish form. In ME a new adjective with
the same meaning— badde — was developed by change of
meaning and shortening from the OE noun b&ddel ' effeminate
person/ In MnE bad has gained the upper hand, though
worse and worst are still comparisons of evil and ill as well as
of bad. In the Southern ME wurse, wurst, u was developed
out of £=Late West- Saxon or Anglian y by the influence
of the w. In Early MnE a new double comparative worser
§ 1053.1 PRONOUNS. 331
was formed. Both worser and the double superlative
worses/ occur in Vulgar MnE.
1051. little \lf!!\ least
lesser
OE lytel, lassa [adv. l<zs~\, last. The new formation lesset
is, of course, a double comparative like worser (1050).
1052. much more most.
OE micel, mdra [adv. ma], mdst. In Late West-Saxon
micel became mycel by the influence of the m, whence
Southern ME muchel, muche(t). The Early Midland form is
still preserved in the name Mitchell, which also shows the
original meaning ' big/ ' tall/ In OE md, originally an adverb,
is used as a neuter noun governing the genitive in the sense
of ' more in number/ as in ma para wilena ' more of the
councillors/ In ME ;;/^=OE md came to be used as an
adjective, and in Early ME moe was regarded as the com-
parative of many=OHi, manig. moe has now been levelled
under more=O3Z mar a neut. mare, so that more, most are the
comparisons both of muck and of many. In ME— and already
in Late OE — the d of mdra, md was extended to the super-
lative, which became mast, mgst, MnE most.
PRONOUNS.
1053. In OE the inflections of the personal pronouns of
the first and second persons — ic (I,'fiu' thou ' — are altogether
peculiar and anomalous. The personal pronouns of the third
person — he ' he/ hit ' it/ heo ' she ' — have inflections similar
to those of the adjectives : compare ace. sing. masc. him, dat.
sing. masc. him with godne, gddum. So also the interrogative
pronoun hwd, hwcet ' who/ ' what/ and the demonstrative
pronouns se ' that/ ' the * and }>es l this ' have inflections
similar to those of strong adjectives. The main peculiarities
of the pronoun inflections as distinguished from those of the
adjectives are (a) that they are sometimes made up of different
332 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1054.
words, thus id ace. me, se ace. pone, and (<5) that the neuter
sometimes has a special ending -/, as in hit ' it ' compared
with he, hwcet,pcet, which in OE is the neuter of se. Some
of the pronouns have, like the adjectives, an instrumental
case. The personal pronouns of the first and second per-
sons have a dual number : wit ' we two,' git ' ye two.' These
dual forms were kept in the earliest ME, but were soon lost,
together with other characteristic features of the OE pronoun
inflections. But their two main characteristics are still pre-
served even in MnE in such forms as /, me and who, what.
1054. The remaining OE pronouns have the inflections of
ordinary strong adjectives, whether they are used as adjec-
tives or nouns. Thus the adjective-pronoun sum in sum mann
1 a certain man ' and the noun-pronoun sum ( a certain one '
both have plural sume, as in sume mgnn cw&don, sume cw&don
' some (people) said ' ; and there was a singular neuter noun-
pronoun eall, as in sgle eall pat pu hafst ' sell all that thou
hast/ as well as a plural ealle, as in ealle wundrodon 'all
wondered/ So also hw$U ' which/ sw$lc ' such/ dper ' other/
cenig ( any/ nan l none/ ' no ' had the plurals hwglce, swelce,
opre, cenige^ ndne, which were used both as adjectives and
nouns. OE pronouns only occasionally take weak inflec-
tion, as in ic self a 'I myself' compared with ic self, ace. me
selfne.
1055. In ME the old plurals in -e were kept, as in alk
men ' all men/ alle pat livep ' all that live.' Bui in MnE the
-e was dropped in accordance with the general rule, so that
these pronouns became invariable in the plural, as in some
think differently ', beloved by all, of such is the kingdom of
heaven.
1056. The regularly inflected pronouns had a gen. sing,
masc. and neut. in -es in OE. The OE noun-genitive opres
' another man's ' survives in the MnE other V, another's. So
also either s = OE agpres from tigper = ceghwceper. The MnE
genitive one's is a new-formation.
§ io6i.] PRONOUNS. 333
1057. It is probably the old genitive other s — together with
the desire of distinctness — which led to the formation of a
new plural others instead of the invariable other, which was
still preserved at the beginning of the Early MnE period, as
in when other are glad, then is he sad. The plural ones of the
prop-word one, as in the young ones, is, of course, a still later
formation.
Personal Pronouns.
OLD-ENGLISH.
1058. The following are the inflections of the personal
pronouns — including, for convenience, the interrogative hwa
— later forms being in ( ) : —
Sing. Nom. it pu he hit heo
Ace. met (me) pec (fie) hine hit hie (hy)
Dat. me pe him him hire
Gen. mm pin his his hire
Plur. Nom. we ge
Ace. usic (us) eoivic (Sow)
Dat. us eow
Gen. ilre tower
Sing. Nom. hiva
Ace. hwone
hie (hy, heo)
hie (hy, heo)
him (heom)
hira, heora
hivat
hwcet
Dat. hwcem
Gen. hwces
Instr. hwy
(hivdm)
1059. The change of the plur. him into heom is the result
of the influence of the gen. plur. heora together with the
desire to distinguish between singular and plural. The late
nom. plur. heo is the result of levelling under heom and heora.
1060. Many of the above inflections had weak forms, in
which long vowels were shortened, such as weak pu, heo=
strong pit, heo.
1061. The genitives mm, etc. are used not only as posses-
sives, but as pure genitives ; thus icgemundepin 'I remembered
334 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1062.
thee,' it gemunde his 'I remembered him (or it)' are parallel
to ic gemunde pecs mannes ' I remembered the man/
MIDDLE-ENGLISH.
1062. In ME the genitive of the personal pronouns was
gradually restricted to the function of a possessive pronoun,
though it still retained something of its independence in such
phrases as oure aller hjle ' the salvation of us aH' = OE ure
eallra h&lu.
1063. The distinction between accusative and dative was
done away with, these two cases being levelled under one
which we call the ' objective ' case, this objective case being
really the old dative used also as an accusative. This exten-
sion of the dative began already in OE, me, fie, us, eow being
the regular accusatives even in Early West-Saxon. The ex-
planation is that as the personal pronouns generally refer
to living beings, we naturally think of ' I,' ' you/ etc. not as
mere passive objects of striking, calling, sending, etc., but as
being to some extent actively interested in these processes ;
and hence we are inclined to use the interest-case or dative
to express the personal complement even of purely transitive
verbs. Hence even in OE they began to say he slog me ' he
struck me ' instead of he slog mec in the same sense as he slog
pone stdn ( he struck the stone/ but from a different point of
view. In ME the change was carried out consistently, him
supplanting hine and so on. But with the specifically
neuter pronouns the process was reversed : it and what being
mainly thought of as passive complements of verbs, not
only kept their old accusatives — which was made still more
easy by these accusatives having the same form as the
nominatives — but used them to express the much rarer rela-
tion of interest, and so the old accusative it has come to
represent the dative as well as the accusative in MnE, while
the old dative him serves as accusative as well as dative.
1064. In ME — as also in OE — all the third person pro-
§ 1067.] PRONOUNS. 335
nouns had weak forms without h- : unemphatic or weak im
by the side of emphatic or strong him, although in writing
only the emphatic form was used, just as in MnE we write /
saw him, whether the him is emphatic (him) or weak (im).
But even in the earliest Midland we find it written everywhere
by the side of he, etc., showing that this originally weak form
had supplanted the strong one. The reason is that it was so
rarely necessary to emphasize the impersonal pronoun that
the strong hit was forgotten and disused. But hit was pre-
served in South-Thames English up to the end of the Late
ME period.
1065. OE id split up into tne two forms ich (North-
Thames tc) and i. The latter — which was, of course, origi-
nally the weak form — gradually supplanted the fuller form,
which became extinct in Standard ME, although it still sur-
vives in the dialects of the West of England.
1066. So also the weak us (with short vowel) gradually
supplanted the strong us, ous.
1067. In OE the o of eo, eo was often weakened to a when
these diphthongs were uttered with weak stress, so that such
a pronoun as heora ' their' developed a weak form heara.
In Late OE weak diphthongs began to shift their stress on
to the second element, the length of ea, eo being shifted with
the stress. The first elements of the diphthongs were then
shortened and weakened till they became a weak (j), which
was then liable to be dropped altogether. Hence we get the
following changes, which in some cases were fully carried
out in Late Old- Northumbrian, while in others they were not
carried out till the ME period : —
'eo 'ea e'a ja a
'eo e'd jo o
Already in Early Old- Anglian we find weak heara by the
side of the older strong heora. In Early ME heara passed
through (hjare) into hare, and in the same way Late
OE heom ' them ' became ham. The weak OE heo ' she,'
336" ACCIDENCE. [§ 1068.
which in Late OE also expressed ' they/ passed through
the same change, becoming ha. This weak ha was then
extended to the masc. sing. So in Early Southern we find
the following strong and weak pairs with a in the latter : he
(ha) 'he/ heo (ha) 'she/ 'they,' heom (ham) 'them/ heore
(hare) ' their.' ha was liable to drop its h by still further
weakening, whence the Early MnE a=he in quoth' a, quotha,
'a must needs. It must be noted that such forms as heo and
a represent the two extremes of emphatic strength on the one
hand and enclitic weakness on the other, and that there were
other intermediate weakenings ; also that when a weak form
was developed, that weak form might afterwards take strong
stress, and that the original strong form might itself lose its
stress and develop a new weakening. Thus we find the
strong heore weakened into hore in the same way as the weak
heare was further weakened into hare.
1068. Strong heo ' she' passed through heo into (hjoo, j^oo),
which last is the Early Midland form, written gho parallel to
who, ' who' = (w^aa). But the feminine demonstrative seo
' that one/ * she ' gradually took the place of heo, at first in
the Midland dialect, and then in the Standard ME. seo
passed through seo (sjoo) into sho in some dialects with the
change of (sj) into (J). This sho, being a weak form,
existed side by side with the strong seo, and in some Midland
dialects the two were blended together into a new form sheo,
which became she by the regular change of eo into e. Strong
heo was soon discarded, because this vowel change levelled it
under the masculine he.
1069. eow in its weak form passed through (joow) into
(juuw), written %uw, which then became yow=(]\m), the (w)
first changing the o into u, and then being itself absorbed by
the ii. Early Southern has ou with dropping of the e, just
as in hore= heore.
1070. The Late OE tendency to confuse heo ' she ' and hie
' they ' under the common form heo led to a more extended
§ io72.] PRONOUNS. 337
use of the demonstrative plural pa 'they.' In the ME
period this usage was especially developed in North-Thames
English. But as pa also had the strong demonstrative mean-
ing ' those ones/ ' those/ and as Scandinavian influence was
strong in North-Thames English, pa in the sense of ' they '
was made into pei by the influence of Scandinavian peir
' they/ where the -r is only the inflection of the nom. masc.
plur., as in Danir ' Danes ' = OE Dene. The influence of
the Scandinavian dat. and gen. plur. peim ' to them/ peira
'their' also changed the Q\&p(Em,para into peim, peire, peir
in North-Thames E. In Late ME pei found its way into
the Standard dialect, which, however, still generally kept the
Southern dative hem and the possessive here from the earlier
Southern emphatic heom, heore.
1071. The following are, then, the chief forms of the
personal pronouns in Early ME, the North-Thames forms
being in ( ) : —
Sing. Nom. ich, f (ic, t) pu why (who), whgt (what)
Obj. me pe wham
Plur. Nom. we 5*
Obj. its, us ou (&UTV, 5#)
Sing. Nom. he, ha hit (it] heo, ha (&hd, sho)
Obj. hine, him hit (if) hire
' \^
Plur. Nom. heo, ha (pei]
Obj. heom, ham (peini)
1072. The later forms of Standard ME are—
Sing. Nom. z, ich
poii.
/=(|)uu) who what
Obj. me
Pe
whom what
Plur. Nom. we
ye
Obj. us
yow
•=(juu)
Sing. Nom. he
hit,
it she
Obj. him
hit,
it hire, hir, her
Plur. Nom.
~^peT
Obj.
hem, peim
VOL. I.
z
338 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1073.
1073. In Late ME the Early ME wham took the vowel of
the nom. who, in which Early ME g was made into close b by
the influence of the w.
1074. In ME the plural ye, yow was used in respectful
and ceremonious address instead of the singular frow, pe by
imitation of Old French.
1075. In OE weak mann, man ' man ' was used as an in-
definite pronoun = French on, with the verb in the third person
sing. In ME it was shortened and weakened into men, me,
as in me seifi 'they say' = OE man sgge}>. In Late ME it
was confused with the plur. men and gradually disused, me
sei}> being made into men seien.
MODERN ENGLISH.
1076. In Early MnE the use of the ceremonious plural
ye, you was so much extended that it became the usual polite
form of address, the singular thou being used mainly to ex-
press familiarity and contempt, which latter use brought about
its complete disuse in the spoken language of the present
century, which therefore makes no distinction of number in
the personal pronoun of the second person. But we still
preserve the old thou in the poetical and liturgical language.
1077. In Early MnE the objective form you came to be
used as a nominative, and in Present English you has com-
pletely supplanted ye in the spoken language. The change
is partly the result of a general confusion between nomin-
ative and objective in MnE, partly of the influence of the
singular pronoun thou. In Early MnE the ME }>e, ye
became (tfii, jii), which were shortened into ($i, ji) when
weak. So also ME f>ow, yow became Early MnE (Sou,
jb'u) by the regular change of (uu) into (b'u), the short
(u) of the ME weak forms being necessarily preserved
unchanged in the Early MnE (tSu, ju). In Early MnE
ihou and ye were liable to lose their vowels before another
§ io8o.] PRONOUNS. 339
word beginning with a vowel or h + vowel, so that thou art,
ye are were shortened into th'art, yare, just as the earth was
shortened into th' earth. This gave the following Early MnE
forms of the second person pronoun : —
Norn. (Sou, 3u, 5) (jii, ji, j)
Obj. (aii, di) (jou, ju)
1078. It will be observed that each of these pronouns has
two groups of endings which have exactly opposite functions,
(-6u), etc. being the nominative ending in the singular thou,
but the objective ending in the plural you, while (-ii) is the
objective ending in the singular, the nominative ending in the
plural. The natural result of this was that the associations
between form and grammatical function became unsettled,
and when ye, you came to be frequently used in a singular
meaning, thou (Sou) and you (jou) were associated together,
till at last you came to be regarded as a nominative. This
confusion was increased by the shortened forms yare, etc.,
in which it was impossible to know whether the y was a
contraction of ye or of you.
1079. The phonetic similarity between thee and ye led to
the frequent use of ye as an objective, especially in the weak
form (ji), which was used indifferently as an objective or a
nominative, being often further weakened by dropping the
consonant, as in hark'ee, harkee, lookee, thankee. Such forms
as I tell ye (ji) were still frequent a few generations ago, and
(i) may still be heard in how do you do ? (hau d i duw), but
such forms as (luki, psenki) survive only as vulgarisms.
1080. As (Sou) and (Su), (jou) and (ju) diverged con-
siderably in sound, one member of each pair was got rid of
in the course of the Early MnE period, namely the weak (Su)
and the strong (jou), whose place was taken by (juu),— a
lengthening of weak (ju). As this (uu) did not develop till
after the change of ME (uu) into (6u) had been completed, it
was, of course, preserved from that change.
Z 2
340 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1081.
1081. We have seen that the ending -e(e) in the second
person pronouns is the mark both of the nominative (ye)
and the objective (thee\ The same cross-association runs
through some of the other pronouns :—
Nom. : he, she, we, ye
Obj. : me, thee
1082. The fact that in four cases out of six -ee is the nom.
ending explains \\ovf ye was able to maintain itself as a nom.
in spite of the support given to you by the sing. thou.
1083. Confusions between nominative and objective may
occur in any language through misunderstanding gram-
matical categories. Thus in the Bible we find whom do
men say that 1 am ?, where what ought to be the nominative
is put in the objective through attraction (117) — through
being regarded as the object of the verb say ; and although
OE is strict in its distinction between nom. and accusative,
yet the OE version shows the same attraction : hw&ne sgcgaj?
mgnn pat sy mannes sunu? But as long as a language marks
the distinctions of case with clearness, such confusions are
confined to isolated constructions. In MnE, however, the
distinction between nominative and objective was marked
only in a few words, and even there was marked in a way
which inevitably led to confusion ; and even apart from this
cross-association there was no uniformity : thus in the pairs
/, me ; he, him ; we, us the objective cases have no formal
characteristic in common. Hence in MnE the linguistic
sense for the distinction between nominative and objective
has been almost as much weakened as that for the distinc-
tion between indicative and subjunctive.
1084. In Early MnE the usage was more unsettled than
it is now, the nominative being as freely substituted for the
objective as vice-versa, as in such constructions as 'tween you
and /. you and I were so frequently joined together as
nominatives-^^ and I will go together, etc. — that the three
§ to86.] PRONOUNS. 341
words formed a sort of group-compound, whose last element
became invariable.
1085. The tendency of Later MnE is to merge the dis-
tinction of nominative and objective in that of conjoint and
absolute, that is, to keep the old nominative forms only
when in immediate connection with a verb — / am ; said he —
so that, as the pronouns in the nominative generally precede
the verb, /, he, etc. are felt almost to be inseparable verb-
forming prefixes, as in / call, compared with to call. When
a pronoun follows a verb, it generally stands in the objective
relation ; hence, on the analogy of he saw me, tell me, etc.,
the literary it is I is made into it is me in the spoken lan-
guage, so that me is felt to be the absolute form of the
conjoint /, being also used as the answer to the question
who is there?, etc. In the vulgar language this is carried
out consistently, the slightest separation from the verb being
enough to elicit the objective form, as in me and John came
home yesterday— \hz polite/*?^ and I came home yesterday,
them that is here=they that . . In Standard spoken
English the absolute use of the objective forms is most
marked in the case of me, which is put on a level with the
old nominatives he, etc. : it is me, it is he, it is she. But the
usage varies, and in more careless speech such constructions
as it is him, it is us are frequent.
In the written language the absolute use of the objective
forms is not recognized ; and as such expressions as // is me are
still denounced as incorrect by the grammars, many people try
to avoid them in speech as well as writing. The result of this
reaction is that the me in such constructions as between John
and me, he saw John and me sounds vulgar and ungrammatical,
and is consequently corrected into / occasionally in speech, but
oftenest in writing, the Early MnE construction being thus
revived.
1086. The tendency to use the nominative forms before
the verb has had the contrary effect on the pronoun who.
342 ACCIDENCE. [§1087.
Already in Early MnE whom do you mean ? was made into
who do you mean ? on the analogy of / mean . . , you
mean . . , etc. In Present spoken English whom may be
said to be extinct, except in the rare construction with a
preposition immediately before it, as in of whom are you
speaking?— the more purely colloquial who are you speak-
ing 0/f>
The use of you before the verb in you mean, you see, etc.
seems to be in opposition to the general tendency which made
who prevail over whom. But, as we have seen, the extension
of the objective form you is not really a case of deliberate sub-
stitution of the objective for the nominative, but is the result of
the phonetic similarity of the nominative thou.
1087. The pronouns thou, thee and ye are now confined
to the liturgical and the higher literary language. In the
singular the distinction between nom. thou and obj. thee is
strictly maintained. In the Bible ye is the nom. and you is
the corresponding obj., but in the present language of poetry
there is a tendency to use ye in the obj. as well as the nom.,
in order to avoid the prosaic you : ye see, I see ye.
The old singular second person pronoun is still kept up by
the sect known as Society of Friends or Quakers, but in the
form of thee for the nom. as well as obj.— evidently by the
influence of he, etc., which is confirmed by the fact that in
Quaker English thee takes the verb in the third person sing,
instead of the old second person sing. : thee has, thee had=\hz
literary thou hast, thou hadst.
1088. In Early MnE them — which seems to be a weak
form of ME peim — finally got the upper hand of ME hem,
which has survived only as a weak form, being written 'em
from the mistaken idea that it was a shortening of them. We
still use (am) as a weak form of them by the side of (fom),
but only in very familiar speech.
1089. The MnE /'/, her are also equivalent to ME weak
forms.
§ io9 3-1 POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. 343
1090. The ME weak ha occurs occasionally in Early
MnE in the form of 'a, a, but only in very familiar, careless
speech. Such forms as quotha are still used in the literary
language when quaintness is aimed at.
1091. The following are the present forms of the personal
pronouns in literary and spoken English respectively, weak
forms being in ( ) : —
Sing. Nom. /
Obj. me
Plur. Nom. we
Obj. us
thou, you
thee, you
ye, you
ye, you
who what
whom what
Sing. Nom. he
Obj. him
it
it
she
her
Plur. Nom.
Obj.
they
them ('em)
Sing. Nom. ai
Obj. mij (mi)
Plur. Nom. wij (wi)
Obj. BS (as, s)
juw (ju, J9)
juw (ju, J9)
juw (ju, j9)
juw (ju, J9)
huw (uw) whot, wot
huw (uw) whot, wot
Sing. Nom. hij (ij)
Obj. him (im)
it
it
Jij (W
h99 (99, 9)
Plur. Nom.
6ei
Obj.
5em (63m
,9m)
1092. The shortening (-s) = «j occurs only in lefs. In
Early MnE it was more general.
Possessive Pronouns.
OLD ENGLISH.
1093. The OE possessive pronouns are the genitives of
the corresponding personal pronouns : mm ' my,' ure ' our,'
pin ' thy/ eower ' your,' his ' his, its,' hire ' her/ hira, heora
' their.' The possessives of the third person — his, hire,
hira— together with hwces ' whose/ are indeclinable, those
344 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1094.
of the first and second person — mm, pin, ure, eower — being
declined like strong adjectives : mid his freondum ' with his
friends/ mid minum freondum.
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
1094. In ME his was made declinable on the analogy of
mm, etc., that is, it took a plural ending -e, as in alle
hise men compared with OE ealle his mgnn. This being the
only inflection of the possessives in ME, those ending in -e
necessarily remained or became indeclinable. The Early
ME awer, 5#r=OE eower took final -e in Late ME by the
analogy of ure, becoming youre.
1095. mm and pin dropped their final n before a con-
sonant in Early ME — mi fader — keeping it before a vowel
or h + vowel : mm arm, pin herte. In Late ME the n was
often dropped before a vowel as well. The n was, of course,
always kept when the possessives were used absolutely, or
when they followed their noun : hit is mm, brdper mm !
1096. In Late ME the possessives ending in -e generally
take the genitive ending -j when used absolutely: to mm
hous or to youres\ al pis gold is oures=OE to mmum huse
oppe to eowrum ; eall pis gold is ure. This -s is an ex-
tension of the -s of his : his gold, pat gold is his.
1097. In the weak forms long vowels were sometimes
shortened — min, mi — and final e was dropped : hir, our, etc.
1098. In North-Thames English pei brought with it the
possessive peire= Icelandic peira, which gradually made its
way into the London dialect, where it also appears in the
weak form fare parallel \& pem=peim.
1099. The following are the possessive pronouns in
Standard ME, weak forms being in ( ) : —
Conjoint : mm, mi (min, mi) ; pm, pi {pin, pi) ; his (hes) ;
hire, hir (her) ; oure^ our ; youre, your ; here, her, peire, peir
(pere, per).
§1103-] POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. 345
Absolute : mm ; pin ; his ; hires, hirs, heres, hers ; oures,
ours ; youres, yours ; here s, hers.
All those beginning with h were, of course, liable to lose it in
their weak forms.
1100. The Early ME possessive whas became whos in
Late ME through the influence of who.
MODERN ENGLISH.
1101. In Early MnE his was still the possessive of /'/ as
well as he: it (the serpent) shall bruise thy head, and thou
shall bruise his heel (Bible). But already in the Midland
dialect of ME the want of a special possessive for it was
supplied by using the uninflected it as a possessive instead of
his ; and this usage appears also in Early MnE : the hedge-
sparrow fed the cuckoo so long that it's had its head bitten off
by it young (Shakespere). Towards the end of the Early
MnE period the present genitive its came into general use —
a form which does not occur at all in the Bible, and very
rarely in Shakespere.
1102. The ME distinction between conjoint mine, thine and
my, thy was still kept up in Early MnE, but the shorter forms
were frequently used before vowels : mine eyes, my eyes. In
the higher literary language the distinction is still kept up :
mine eyes, mine host. But many modern poets drop the n
before sounded (h), as in my heart= Early MnE mine heart,
keeping it only before vowels and silent h + vowel, as in mine
honour.
1103. The following are the present forms of the possessive
pronouns in the literary and spoken languages : —
Conjoint : my, mine ; thy, thine ; his ; its ; her ; our ; your ;
their', whose.
Absolute : mine ; thine ; his ; its ; hers ; ours ; yours ;
theirs] whose.
346 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1104.
Conjoint : mai (mai, mi) ; ju9r, JD9r (jor, jar) ; hiz (iz) ;
its ; h99r (ar) ; Se9r (o^r) ; huwz (uwz).
Absolute : main ; ju9z, JD9Z ; hiz ; its ; ri99z ; t$e9z ; huwz.
One's in one loses one's time may be regarded as an indefinite
possessive pronoun.
Self.
OLD-ENGLISH.
1104. In OE the emphatic self— Late West-Saxon sylf—
is added to nouns and personal pronouns, being generally
inflected like a strong adjective in agreement with its head-
word: God self hit geworhte 'God himself made it/ swd-swa
hie cwcedon him selfum ' as they said to themselves,' he f orgeat
his selfes * he forgot himself/ In the nominative the weak-
inflected selfa is used in the same way : God sel/a, ic self a.
Weak self is also used in the sense of * same/ being treated
like a pure adjective : J>y (instr.) sylj'an dcege ' on the same day.'
1105. In OE the personal pronouns are used also as
reflexive pronouns, as they still are in such phrases as he
looked about him compared with he must take care of himself .
OE self does not make a pronoun reflexive, but simply
emphasizes one that is already so, as in wyscton him
selfum, the shorter wyscton htm being enough to express the
meaning ' wished for themselves/ Hence such a phrase as
he ofsticode hine might mean either ' he stabbed him ' (some-
one else), or ' he stabbed himself/ By degrees he ofsticode
hine set/he, which at first meant both ' he stabbed that very
man ' and ' he stabbed himself/ was restricted to the latter
meaning, the simple hine, him, etc., being restricted more and
more to the non-reflexive meaning, so that already in Early
ME we find self, suffused very much as in MnE.
1106. In OE a personal pronoun in the dative is often
added reflexively to a pronoun in the nominative, but without
§1109.] PRONOUNS: SELF. 347
materially affecting its meaning, as in he ondred him pone
mann ' he was afraid of the man/ literally ' feared for himself/
hie gewiton him ' they departed/ This pleonastic dative is
often added to self, self a in this way : • he lip him selfgehwceper,
sunu andf&der ' he (the phoenix) is himself to-himself both
(pronoun), son and father/ ic me self gewat 'I myself de-
parted/ he him self a sceaf reaf of lice ' he to-himself himself
pushed the robe from the body'='he took off his robe/
1107. self'm OE was occasionally used as a noun without
any accompanying head- word : sleap synnigne ofer selfes mup !
' strike ye the sinful one on his mouth ! '
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
1108. In ME the meaning and function of the datives me
and pe in the combinations ich me self, pu pe self, etc., were
soon forgotten, so that these constructions became unmean-
ing, which led to the change of me and pe into the posses-
sives mi, Jn, self being regarded as a noun, as shown in such
constructions as mi self have)? ' myself has ' compared with
bi selfhavest ' thyself hast/ On the analogy of miself, Jnself
the plurals ureself, ^ureself were formed. The dative was
preserved in himself ' himself, itself/ plur. himself (Late ME
ahofomself). hireself herself could of course be regarded
either as dative or possessive. The forms -selve, -selven also
occur: miselve, miselven, himselve, himselven. selven is pro-
bably the OE dat. sing, or plur. selfum, selve being either a
shortening of selven or else = OE weak selfa.
MODERN ENGLISH.
1109. In Early MnE self came to be regarded more and
more as a noun, which led to such constructions as the
Shakesperian thy fair self, Tarquiris self. A new plural
selves was now formed on the analogy of shelf, shelves, etc. :
myself, ourselves, to your gross selves (Shakespere).
348 ACCIDENCE, [§iiio.
1110. But the older dative was still preserved in himself ',
themselves, itself must also be regarded as containing the
objective (= dative) case of it rather than as a contraction of
ifs self. In Present English we have the forms his self, their
selves in vulgar speech ; and even in the Standard dialect these
forms are necessary when own is added : his own self.
1111. The following are the forms of the spoken lan-
guage :—
Sing, myself '; yourself ~; himself, itself, herself.
Plur. ourselves ; yourselves ; themselves.
To these may be added the indefinite oneself.
1112. It will be observed that yourself, yourselves make a
distinction between sing, and plur. which is lost in the simple
you, the sing, thyself being, of course, preserved only in the
higher literary language. So also a form ourself occurs
occasionally in older writers in the sense of ' myself; but in
the present literary language an author speaks of himself as
ourselves, if he uses the plural.
1113. In the literary language self is used as an inde-
pendent noun : till Glory s self is twilight (Byron) ; then, all
forgetful of self , she wandered into the village.
1114. In the spoken language the emphatic and reflexive
meanings of myself, etc., are distinguished by the stress, these
forms having strong stress when emphatic, weak when re-
flexive, as in / did it myself compared with he roused himself.
The OE self as an adjective is represented by the compound
self-same in MnE : the selfsame thing.
Demonstrative.
OLD ENGLISH.
1115. The OE demonstrative se ' that, this, the, he/ etc.,
and pes ' this, this one ' are inflected as follows : —
§1119.] DEMONS TRA TIVE PR ONO UNS. 349
Masc. Neut. Fern.
Masc. Neut.
Fern.
Sing. Nom. se (se) }><zt seo pes (pes) pis
Ace. pone pat pa pisne pis
peos
pas
Dat.
Gen.
Instr.
Plur. Nom.
Dat.
Gen.
pam, pain pare
pees pare
Py pare
pissum
pisses
Pys
pisse(re]
pisse(re]
pisse(re)
pa
pam, pam
para, para
pas
pissum
pissa, pissera
The forms se, pes are used only as noun-pronouns in the
sense of ' this one/ * he/
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
1116. In ME the s of the OE se, se, seo was made into p
by the influence of the more numerous forms beginning with
p, and offes, pis, peos.
1117. The resulting /£, pat, peo was at first used, as in OE,
both as a demonstrative and as a definite article. But by
degrees the neuter sing, pat and the plur. pa were restricted
to the demonstrative meaning. In Early Southern pgt hits
= OE/^/ hus is still used in the sense of ' the house' as well
as of ' that house ' ; but in Late ME pat is restricted to the
more emphatic meaning, as in MnE. This restriction was
Still more marked in the plur.; already in the Earliest ME/^
men,pg hus were used only in the demonstrative meanings
' those men/ ' those houses.'
1118. pg was now regarded as the plur. of pat, and was
completely disassociated from the definite article. Hence it
became necessary to eliminate the old /^-forms — ace. sing,
fern, and nom. plur. — from the inflection of the definite
article. This was done by extending the nom. sing. fern,
first to the ace. sing. fern. — -peo siinne = OE pa synne as well
as seo synn — and then to the plur. nom.: peo sunnen=QJL
pa synna.
1119. The old pas — the ace. sing. fern, and nom. plur. of
350 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1120.
fas — was now associated with the old foa, till at last ME fog
and fogs were completely confused, fogs being regarded as fog
with the plural -s added, so that fog men, fogs men both came
to mean ' those men/
1120. The form fogs was now eliminated from the inflection
of foes in the same way as fog was eliminated from the inflec-
tion of foe, the fern. sing. nom. foeos being extended first to the
ace. fem. sing, and then to the nom. plur. : foeos sttnne=.QflL
foeos synn zndfoas synne, foeos siinnen=OE fods synna.
1121. The following are the full inflections of the Early
Southern demonstratives corresponding to OE se and foes :
Masc.
Neut.
Fem.
Masc.
Neut.
Fem.
Sing. Nom.
foe
to*
foeo
foes
fois
foeos
Ace.
foene
foet
foeo
foesne
fois
foeos
Dat.
foen
foen
foer
foisse
foisse
foisse
Gen.
foes
foes
Jer^
foisses
foisses
foisse
Plur. Norn!
foeo
foeos
Dat.
foen
foissen
Gen.
foer
foisse
1122. But already in Early Southern there was a tendency
to make the definite article indeclinable — fa. The main
causes of this were (a) the want of stress of the article, which
made its endings indistinct, (6) the general loss of the sense
of gender- and case-distinctions, and (c) the confusion which
arose from using fo$t both as an article and a demonstrative.
1123. The new demonstrative foat was in like manner
extended to the masc. and fem. sing, and then to the oblique
cases of the sing., so that foat hits, foat man were sharply dis-
tinguished from foe man. foe hits.
1124. The neuter fois was extended in the same way : fois
man, fois hus, fois cu = OE foes mann, fois hits, foeos cu.
1125. At first the indeclinable foat was not always restricted
to its demonstrative meaning, but was used also as an article
in all three genders. This usage survived in Late ME in a
few combinations : foat gn ' the one/ foat ofoer ' the other/ foat
§n3o.] DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 351
tike ' the same '= OE se ilca, pcct ike, etc. The final / of the
pat was often regarded as the beginning of the next word,
and the a was weakened to e so as to make the curtailed /0/
into the definite article pe, the first two of the above combina-
tions being written fie tgn, pe toper. The tother has been
preserved to the present day in vulgar English. In Early
MnE the tother and the other were blended into t'other, which
was still used in the literary language of the last century.
That ilk is still used in Scotland in the phrase A. of that ilk,
meaning that Mr. A.'s surname is the same word as the title of
his estate. In newspaper English the combination is ignorantly
made into the pleonastic the same ilk, as in consumption, and
endless other ills of the same ilk (Pall Mall Gazette).
1126. In the plural, where there was no distinction of
gender, pg, pgs and peos became indeclinable even sooner
than the singulars pat, pis.
1127. The plural peos 'these' was discarded in Late ME,
and a new plural was formed direct from pis by adding the
regular adjective plural ending e, giving pise, which also
appears in the weak form pese, like hese-=hise. pese may,
however, be the result of the influence of the older peos, peos,
which in Late ME would become pes, pes.
MODERN ENGLISH.
1128. Standard MnE finally settled down to the demon-
strative forms —
Sing. that this
Plur. those these
1129. In Early MnE the article the is often shortened to
th1 before vowels and h + vowels, as in th 'enemy, th'hilt, and
even before other consonants, as in thworld, where the w
was probably dropped.
1130. In the present spoken English the has two forms,
((Si) before a vowel, as in (5i enimi), (cSa) before a consonant,
as in ($9 msen, tSa has).
352 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1131.
one, a ; none, no.
1131. In OE the numeral an e one/ which was inflected
like a strong adjective (but with ace. sing. masc. dnne], was
occasionally used also in an indefinite sense, which some-
times approached very near to that of the indefinite article :
an mann=l a certain man,' ' a man ' ; although in most cases
the indefinite article was not expressed at all : on celcre byrig
bip cyning ' in each city there is a king/
Weak ana is used in the special sense of * alone ' : id ana stod
1 1 stood alone.' MnE a/one=OE call ana 'entirely alone.'
1132. From an was formed the negative nan ' none' = *«*
an ' not one/ which was used both as a noun — nanne ne
gehdlp 'he heals no one' — and, more frequently, as an
adjective : nan mann ' no man/ nan ping f no thing/ ; no-
thing/
1133. In ME an developed into a regular indefinite article.
When used in this way it lost its stress and shortened its
vowel, becoming an. As this shortening took place before
the change of a into g, the article an was isolated from the
numeral gn ' one/
1134. In ME gn, ngn, an dropped the:r final n in the
same way as mm and pin before a consonant, keeping it
before a vowel or h + vowel : g man ' one man/ gn arm, she
dop ngn harm id ng man, a man, an gld man. gn and ngn kept
their n of course when used absolutely.
1135. In MnE the strong words gn and ngn levelled these
distinctions, but in different ways. In the case of one the
shortened form was given up, one being used before vowels
as well as consonants : one man, one arm. It is to be noted
that in Early MnE one kept the sound (00n). But already in
the Western dialects of ME it had been diphthongized into
(wun), whence the present (w^n), the other pronunciation
being still preserved in alone, only.
1136. none went the opposite way, the fuller form being
§ 1138.] INTERR. AND REL. PRONOUNS. 353
preserved only absolutely — / have none — the shorter no being
used as the conjoint form before vowels and consonants
alike : no man, no other.
1137. The article an has kept the ME variation : a man, an
enemy. In Early MnE the full form was also kept before h :
an house. We now say a house, a history, etc. But we gener-
ally use an before h in weak syllables, where it is then
dropped in pronunciation, as in an historical event. As one
itself is now pronounced (w^n), it takes a before it : such a
one. So also #=(juw, jua) now takes a before it, as in a
unit, like a youth. But an unit, an useless waste of life are
still found in the literary language, being traditions of the
earlier pronunciation of u as ("hi).
In ME the distinction in meaning between gn and an was
not always strictly carried out at first, the strong yn being some-
times used as an indefinite article, and an being sometimes used
in the sense of 'one.' This latter usage has survived to the
present day in a few phrases, such as a day or two, they are
both of an age.
Interrogative and Relative.
1138. The interrogative pronouns in OE are hwd, hwcet,
whose inflections have been already given (1058), hwdc, hwilc.
Late West-Saxon hwylc ' which ' (implying ' more than one '),
and hiv&per ' which of two.' hwglc is a shortening of *hwalic,
hwilc of *hwilic (with the a assimilated to the following z),
where hwa- is the original short form of hwd (745), and
-lie is a shortening of lie, the original meaning of the com-
pound being ' who-like ' or ' what-like.' hw&per was origin-
ally formed from *hwa with the same comparative derivative
ending as mfurpor (1048). hw$lc is used both as a noun
and an adjective, generally in a more definite sense than hwd,
hwcBt, though it must sometimes be translated by who or what,
especially when an adjective, hwglc being the only adjective
form of hwd and hwcct, as in hwglce mede hcebbe ge / ' what
reward have ye ? '
VOL. i. A a
354 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1139.
1139. In ME hwgtt dropped the /, probably at first only
when unstressed: Early Southern hwiich from Late West
Saxon hwylc. Late ME which being a Midland form.
1140. In OE hwd and hwcet were used only as nouns, but
in ME what was used as an indeclinable adjective of all three
genders : what ping, what man. This early use of what as an
adjective wa^ helped by its resemblance to pat. The OE
use of hivat with a noun in the gen. plur., as in hwcet manna ?
' what kind of men/ ' what men ' also paved the way for the
later use of the word as an adjective, just as /rca + gen. plur.
developed into an adjective (1052). When the language was
able to distinguish between what thing and which thing, the
latter pronoun was gradually restricted to its more definite
meaning.
1141. hwceper, Anglian hwgper from *hwapir, was used
both as a pronoun =' which of two/ and as an adverb and a
conjunction =' whether.' It now survives only as an adverb,
which having taken the place of the pronoun. The pronoun
whether still survived in Early MnE, as in whether of them
twain did the will of his father ? corresponding to the OE
hwceper para twegra dyde per s feeder willan ?
1142. There were no simple relative pronouns in OE,
there being only an indeclinable relative particle pe, which
was generally joined to the noun-pronoun se : se mann se-
pe . . ' the man who . . / pa mgnn pcem-pe . . ' the men to
whom . .' se by itself was also used as a relative : se mann
se . . , he pat beacen geseah peel hi'?n gelewed wearp ' he saw
the beacon that was shown to him/ In ME that became
an indeclinable relative as in MnE : he that will . .
1143. Although the OE interrogative pronouns were not
used relatively, they were freely used conjunctively, a usage
which naturally grew out of their interrogative meaning,
hwcet wilt ]>ii? 'what do you wish?' for instance, suggesting
such constructions as he ascode pone cyning hwceper he wolde
§1146.] DEFINITE PRONOUNS. 355
' he asked the king which of the two he wished/ he hordap
and ndt hwdm l he hoards and knows not for whom/ In ME
whg soon came to be used as a relative, as also in MnE : the
man who . . , the woman who . . , what being still restricted
to the conjunctive use.
Definite.
1144. Besides se and pes there was in OE a third demon-
strative pronoun geon, which however became obsolete already
in Early West-Saxon. It was preserved in North-Thames
English, being still in common use in the north of England
and Scotland in the form of yon. In MnE yon has been
confused with the adverb yond, yonder — -yond cloud, yonder
hill — of which it was supposed to be a shortened form, and
was consequently written yon . yond is now completely
obsolete, •&&.& yonder is more frequent than^w in the literary
language, both being obsolete in the spoken language.
1145. The OE demonstrative of quality swglc, swilc,
Late West-Saxon swylc=*swalic, *swilic ' so-like/ *swa
being the older form of swa ' so/ dropped its / in ME in the
same way as hwglc did, Southern swiich becoming swuch by
the influence of the w, which was then absorbed by the u,
giving such. The tradition of the Midland form swich is still
preserved in the vulgar sich.
Indefinite.
1146. The particle a f always ' was in OE prefixed to pro-
nouns and adverbs — especially interrogative ones — to give
them an indefinite sense, as in ahw&r ' anywhere/ ahwce.frer
1 either of two.' Interrogative pronouns and adverbs were
also used in an indefinite sense without any prefix, as in gif
hwdpds boc dwritan wile ' if anyone wants to make a copy of
this book.' The indefinite meaning grows naturally out of
the interrogative, such a question as ' who ? ' being necessarily
indefinite, for if we knew who the person was, we should not
A a 2
356 ACCIDENCE. § 1147.
ask the question. The indefinite meaning was made more
prominent by putting the interrogative word between swd . .
swd 'as . . as ' : swd-hwd-swd i whoever/ swd-hw&t-swd
' whatever/ swd-hwglc-swd ' whichever.' In ME the first
swd was dropped in these groups : whg-sg, what-sg. In Late
OE <zfre ' ever/ ' always ' is sometimes added like the older
a — though more loosely — to express indefiniteness, as in call
pat afre bglst wees (Chronicle 1048) 'whatever was best';
and in ME this usage was much extended, whence the MnE
whosoever, whatsoever, and, with dropping of the now super-
fluous so, whoever, whatever, whichever, etc.
1147. In OE the noun wiht ' creature/ ' thing/ came to be
regarded almost as a pronoun, and when the indefinite d- was
prefixed to it, the origin of the resulting noun-pronoun
dwiht was forgotten, and it was contracted to duht, aht, aht.
The prefix d- also appears in the form of d-, whence the
parallel forms dwiht, oht. Hence ME has both auht, aht, and
ouht, oht. In OE negative forms were obtained by prefixing
n- : ndwiht, nduht, naht, ndwiht, noht, whence ME nauht, naht,
and nouht, noht. The fluctuation between au and ou in these
words still continued in MnE, even when the two spellings
had come to represent the same sound (D). We now write
only aught, making an arbitrary distinction between naught
and nought. In OE nauht, etc. were used as adverbs=' not
at all/ ' by no means/ and in ME they became less and less
emphatic, especially in the weak forms, which dropped the h,
becoming nat, not, which at last became equivalent to the
older ne ' not/ In the Present spoken English the strong
forms aught and naught, nought have been superseded by
anything and nothing from OE cenig ping, nan ping. But we
still keep the derivative naughty, which in Early MnE had
the older meaning ' good for nothing/ ' worthless ' ; and we
use nought to express the zero in arithmetic, writing naught
in the sense of ' nothing ' — a sense which is now obsolete in
the spoken language. But (at) is in common colloquial use
§ii5i.] INDEFINITE PRONOUNS. 357
as a shortened form of nought, as in (desimol ot wBn) = 'oi.
This form probably arose from the frequent use of nought
after numbers ending in n — one, seven, nine, ten — (wi3n not)
being naturally shortened to (wra ot), the shortened form
being then used after all the other numerals as well.
1148. some=OE sum has two forms, strong (s^m) and
weak (som) [61]. It is still used as a plural noun-pronoun,
the singular being represented by the compounds someone,
somebody, something. In ME the two indefinite pronouns
sum and what were combined in sumwhat to express the
same meaning as something ; somewhat is now used only as
an adverb.
1149. any = the OE noun and adjective cenig, formed
from an l one ' by the derivative ending -ig, which causes
mutation of the preceding vowel. In Late ME jni was
back- shortened (793) to em', which was often made into am
by the influence of an. Early MnE has both eny and any ;
and MnE keeps the former in speech, the latter in writing.
The OE negative nanig was supplanted by ngn in ME. any
is now used only as an adjective, the corresponding noun
being represented by the compound anyone, anybody, anything.
In Early MnE any was still used as a noun : who is here so
vile? . . . if "any -, speak ! (Shakespere).
1150. other = the OE strong noun and adjective dper\
pees dpres nama ' the other man's name/ fra opre mgnn ' the
other men.' For the later inflections of other see §§ 1056,
1057.
1151. The reciprocal noun-pronouns one another, each other
are now inseparable compounds, but their elements were
originally separate words with independent inflections; they
love each other meant originally 'they love, each-one (nom.)
the-other (ace.)/ In OE we find such constructions as
aghwczfier operne oflrcedlice utdrcefde ' each the-other repeat-
edly drove out ' (said of the five sons of a king) ; and even
in Early MnE we still find reminiscences of the original
358 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1152.
construction: with greedy force each other doth assail
(Spenser).
Quantitative.
For much, more, most ; a little, less, least, see §§ 1051, 1052.
For enough see § 1035.
1152. both=ME b$e from OE *bd-J>d 'both those,' 'both
the/ bd being the fern, and neut. form corresponding to the
masc. begen ' both/ just as the fern, and neut. twd ' two ' cor-
respond to the masc. twegen.
1153. each=OE die from *agittc, literally 'ever each/
where the ge- has the same collective meaning as in gefera
'companion/ etc. ale in ME became glch, and — with the
same dropping of the / as in which — jcht the Northern form
being ilk, which was thus confounded with ilk 'same'=OE
ilca. each is still a noun as well as an adjective, though there
is also a compound noun-form each one.
1154. every is a ME compound of a/re (1146) and die,
the earliest ME form being jvrjlch, then jvrich, which in
Late ME was shortened to jveri. every is now used only as
an adjective, the noun being represented by the compounds
everyone, everybody, everything.
1155. either =OE agfrer, aghw<z}>er from * agihwcefrer.
OE oegper has the meaning of Latin uterque ' each of two/
' both of two/ the meaning ' one of two/ Latin alteruter,
being expressed by ahwaper without the collective ge-, which
often shortened to auper, aper. The difference of meaning is
seen in such sentences as on agfrere healfe eas ' on both sides
of the river ' and gif he auper pissa forlatt ' if he gives up
either of these two things.' In ME the pronoun $uJ)er=QE
auper was gradually disused, and /#*r=OE iegper was used
to express both meanings. In MnE either is now restricted
to the alternative meaning alteruter.
In ME both jtyer and Qu]>er continued to be used as con-
junctions, weak jju]>er being contracted to Qper,Srt or. fyer . . or
§ II59.J NUMERALS: CARDINAL. 359
'either . . or' — in which the first member kept its fuller form
because it kept the strong stress— was in Late ME made into
jtfer . . or, as in MnE.
1156. In OE there was a negative form corresponding to
duper : ndhwceper, nduper, ndper^ nohwceper, noper. In ME
it was preserved as a conjunction, the weak form being
shortened to nor. The strong form ngufier was, on the other
hand, made into a new-formation n^iper on the analogy of
gifier, being used both as a pronoun and as the first member
of the * correlative conjunction-group ngiper . . . nor, as
in MnE.
1157. In MnE either and neither are used both as adjec-
tives and as nouns.
1158. There are a few quantitative pronouns remaining,
whose etymology and history deserves notice : —
several has the same form in ME and old French; it
comes from the Late Latin separalisy corresponding to Old
Latin separdbilis ' separable/
few=OE/ea,/eawe plur.
many=OE manig, Late West-Saxon manig by the ana-
logy of (Enig. ME mani, meni with back-shortening. Early
MnE (mani, meni).
NUMERALS.
Cardinal.
1159. The cardinal numerals 1-12 are expressed by the
following isolated words : —
one. OE an.
two. OE masc. twegen, neut. and fern. twd. Already in
the Earliest ME twd was extended to the masc. : twd men=
OE tivegen mgnn. But tweien, tweie=Q}L twegen was pre-
served, and, indeed, survives in the present literary English
in the form of twain, but was used indiscriminately in all
360 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1160.
three genders. In Late ME tW{J=OE two, became two by
the same influence of the w as in who (1073). In Early
MnE the (w) of (twuu) was soon absorbed, giving (tuu).
three. OE fine, neut. and fern. preo. In ME the latter
form was extended to the masc., becoming fire in Late ME.
four. OE feower, which in ME became fdwer, four,
the e being absorbed by the two lip-consonants between
which it stood.
five. OE fif, absolute fife. ftf, like the other isolated
numerals above three, though uninflected when joined to a
noun, is generally inflected when used absolutely : flf menn,
heora w&ron fife 'there were five of them/ In ME both
forms were kept, the conjoint fif and the absolute five, the
latter being by degrees extended to the conjoint use, whence
the MnE/z;<?.
six. OE sieX) six, Anglian sex.
seven. OE seofon.
eight, OE eahta, Anglian cehta, whence ME eighte.
nine. OE nigon. ME mgen, mn, absolute nine.
ten. OE tien, Anglian ten. ME ten with shortening.
eleven. OE gndleofan. ME enleven, elleven, absolute
e'levene.
twelve. OE twglf, absolute twglfe. ME tooelf, twelve.
1160. The teen-numerals 13-19 are compounds of the
units with -fiene, Anglian -tene : —
thirteen. OE pritiene, frrittiene, preotiene. ME prittene.
The MnE form shows the same consonant-transposition as
in third (1170).
fourteen. OEfeowerfiene.
fifteen. OE fiftiene. In ME fif tene the i was shortened
before the consonant-group.
sixteen. OE sixfiene.
seventeen. OE seofontiene.
eighteen. OE eahtatlene, Anglian cehtatene. ME eightetene,
contracted eightene.
§1165.] NUMERALS: CARDINAL. 361
nineteen. OE nigontlem. ME nigentene, nmtene.
1161. The ty-numerals 20-90 are formed in OE by com-
bining the units with -tig, which was originally a noun meaning
1 a lot of ten/ ' half a score,' so that twenty originally meant
' two tens.' The numerals 70-90 also prefix hund- : —
twenty. OE tiventig from * twegen-tig , twentig.
thirty. OE }>r Itig, prittig. ME. pritti, Late East- Midland
frirti, with the same transposition as in third.
forty. OSfeowertig.
fifty. OE/i>?#. MEJj/tt.
sixty. OE sixtfg.
seventy. OE hundseofontig. ME seoventig, seventt.
eighty. OE hundeahtatig , Anglian hundcehtatig.
ninety. OE hundnigontig.
1162. In OE the ty-numerals are sometimes declined as
adjectives, as in after pritigra daga face ( after the space of
thirty days.' When undeclined they are used in their original
function of nouns governing the genitive : sixtig mila brad
1 sixty miles broad/
1163. The high numerals hundred and thousand are in
OE neuter nouns, hund. hundred and J>usend> governing the
genitive : two, hund wintra ' two hundred winters (years)/
pusend manna * a thousand men.'
1164. In OE there was no numeral higher than thousand;
million, ME millioun, is the French form of Late Latin
mtllio, ace. mlllionem formed from Latin mllle ' thousand.'
billion, trillion, etc. are much later formations, in which the
Latin prefixes bi- and tri- (as in biennial^ triennial} were
substituted for the initial syllable of million, so that billion
was regarded as a sort of contraction of *bimiUion. milliard
is a Modern French formation from Latin mille, or rather
from million, by substituting the augmentative ending -ard
for -on, so that the word means 'big million/ million itself
originally meaning * group of thousands.'
1165. Numeral-groups are either cumulative, as in
362 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1 1 66.
twenty -five = 20+ 5, or multiple, as in two hundred— 2 x 100.
In such cumulative groups as twenty-five the units always
came first in GE—ftf and twentig manna — and we still say
five-and-twenty as well as twenty-five, but only with the lower
ty-numerals; thus we hardly ever say he is five and fifty.
1166. In speaking we generally count by hundreds up to
1900, especially in dates. Thus 1066, 1891 are called ten
hundred and sixty-six, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, or,
more briefly ten sixty-six, eighteen ninety-one.
1167. The high numerals are not used alone, but require
a or one before them, the latter when emphatic, as in one
hundred, not two hundred, am a hundred, a thousand, etc.
may be the indefinite article, but is more probably the weak
one, as in a day or two (1137. i).
1168. In MnE all the numerals are treated as adjectives
followed by nouns in the plural, a-hundred, etc. being a kind
of group-adjective: ten men, twenty men, a hundred men,
two thousand men.
1169. But all the numerals can also be used as nouns with
plurals in -s. They necessarily become nouns when their
head-word is suppressed, as in units, tens, and hundreds, to go
on all fours, there were ten of us; but even when the head-
word is expressed, the numeral may be made into a noun
whenever it has any independence of meaning, as in thousands
of people.
Ordinal.
1170. Most of the ordinal numerals are derivatives of the
cardinal ones, but the first two ordinals are expressed by
distinct words : —
first is the OE fyrest, which originally meant * foremost '
(1047) ; but this meaning was sometimes so much weakened
that fyrest became practically equivalent to forma, which is
the regular OE ordinal corresponding to an.
§ ii73.] NUMERALS: ORDINAL. 363
second was introduced in ME, being the French form of
Latin secundus. The OE word was oper, which was discarded
because of the ambiguity resulting from it having also the
meaning ' other/
third = GEprtdda, Late Northumbrian/*)-^, MEforde.
The other OE ordinals below 20 are formed from the
cardinals by adding -pa, the p becoming / after s or ft and
final n of the cardinals being dropped : —
fovLrth=OTL feowerfia, feorpa, W&fourpe [Cp. fourteen,
forty]
fifth =OE fifta, ME fifte, Early MnE fi/t. In later
MnE the th wa^s restored by the influence of the other
ordinals, as also in Early MnE six/.
sixth=OE sixta.
seventh=OE seofopa is a Late ME new-formation direct
from the cardinal. So also ninth, tenth, eleventh.
eighth =OE eahtopa, Anglian <zhtopa, where the o is the
older form of the a in the cardinal eahta, cehta.
ninth =OE nigopa.
tenth =OE teopa with the unmutated vowel of the cardinal
tun.
eleventh = OE $ndhofta.
twelfth=OE twelfta.
1171. The OE teen-ordinals end in -teopa, which in ME
was made in -tenpe, a new-formation from the cardinal
ending -iene, as in fiftenpe—QfiLflfteopa.
1172. The OE ty-ordinals end in -tigopa, -tiogopa, which
in ME became -teope, and then -tipe by the influence of the
cardinals : OE twentigopa, Late ME twentipe. In Early
MnE e was introduced by the analogy of the verb-inflection
•etht but these ordinals were still pronounced (twentif), f»irtif>),
etc., although the spelling has now altered the pronunciation
into (twenti-if)), etc.
1173. In Early MnE the ordinal ending -th was extended
to the high numerals, which before had no ordinal forms :
364 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1174.
hundredth, which was pronounced (hundref>), thousandth^
millionth.
1174. The OE ordinals were inflected as weak adjectives.
1175. In ordinal groups only the last member of the group
takes the ordinal form, the others being left in the shorter
cardinal form : twenty-fifth or five-and-twentieth, hundred and
second. This usage prevailed already in OE, as in on fram
twa-and-twentigopan d&ge, where two, is kept in the neuter,
although dcpg is masculine, because it forms a sort of group
compound with the ordinal.
1176. The ordinals are used as nouns in MnE in the
combination of two numerals to express fractional numbers,
as in two thirds of an inch.
VERBS.
Old-English.
INFLECTIONS.
1177. There are two main conjugations of verbs in OE,
strong and weak, distinguished mainly by the formation of
their preterites and preterite participles. If we compare these
parts of the verb with its infinitive, we find that strong verbs,
such as bindan ' to bind/ form their preterite by vowel- change
— band 'he bound '—and add -en in the preterite participle
with or without vowel-change, ge- being often prefixed, in
weak as well as strong verbs — gebunden ' bound '; while weak
verbs, such as hieran ' hear/ form their preterite and preterite
participle with the help of d or / : hierde, gehiered.
1178. The following are the chief verb endings of the
active voice, including the preterite participle passive.
Where two endings are given, the second is that of the
weak verbs. Observe that all three persons have the same
ending in the plural, and that the imperative exists only in the
second person.
§n83.] VERBS: OLD ENGLISH. 365
Indicative.
Subjunctive.
Present Singular I
-e
-e
2
-st
-6
3
+
-e
Plural
-ap
-en
Preterite Singular I
-,-de
-e, -de
2
-e, -dest
-e, -de
3
-,-de
-e, -de
Plural
-on, -don
-en, -den
Imperative Singular
-, -, (-e, -a)
Infinitive -an
Plural
-ap
Gerund -enne
Participle
Present
-ende
Preterite
-en, -ed.
1179. Verbs whose root ends in a vowel generally contract ;
thus seon ' to see/ gdn ' to go/ conjugate ic seo, ic gd, we
seop, we gap compared with ic binde, we bindap.
1180. For the plural ending -ap, both indie, and imper.,
-e is substituted when the pronoun comes immediately after
the verb : ge bindap, but binde ge. So also gd ge ! compared
with ge gap. These forms were originally subjunctives,
binde ge being a shortening of linden ge. So also in gd we
1 let us go.' This change was often extended by analogy to
the ending -on, as in mote we ( may we/ sohte ge ' ye sought '
compared with we mdton, ge sohton.
1181. The passive voice, and many forms of the active voice
as well, are expressed by the combination of auxiliary verbs
with the pret. partic. and, more rarely, the pres. partic. The
chief auxiliary verbs are wesan ' be/ weorpan ' become/ and
habban ' have/ as in he was gefunden, he wearp gefunden ' he
was found/ he is gecumen ' he has come/ he hcefp gefunden
1 he has found/
1182. But besides the pret. partic., there is a trace of the
old Germanic passive in the form hatte from hdtan, which is
both pres. ' is named, called/ and pret. ' was called.'
1183. The infinitive was originally an indeclinable abstract
noun formed from the corresponding verb, so that bindan
originally meant ' binding/ ' act of binding.' The gerund is a
366 ACCIDENCE. [$ 1184.
similarly formed noun in the dative case governed by the
preposition /0, which always precedes it, as in he is to
cumenne 'he is to come ' = Latin venturus est. It often
takes the a of the infin. — to cumanne.
1184. The pret. partic., as already stated, generally takes
ge- before it ; but not if the verb already has ge- or a similar
inseparable prefix, as in forgiefen ' forgiven,' aimed ' re-
deemed.' In West- Saxon hieran generally takes ge- through-
out : gehicran, gehured.
1185. Both participles are declined like adjectives : we
sindon gecumene, he hcef}> him gefundenne ' he has found him/
literally ' he possesses him found/ But in the later language
the pret. partic. in combination with auxiliary habban became
indeclinable through the original meaning having been
forgotten : he hcefp hine gef widen.
1186. In the older language the second person sing, ends
in -s : pit lufas ' thou lovest,' }>u lufades. But already in
Early West-Saxon the regular forms are lufast, lufadest.
1187. In Late Northumbrian inflectional p became s : ne
bindes, we bindas.
1188. In Late OE the subj. plur. ending -en was made
into -on by the influence of the indie., as in gyf hy wceron
'if they were/ compared with Early West-Saxon gif hie
wdren.
1189. In Late OE the -st of the 2nd pers. sing. pret.
indie, of weak verbs is extended to the subj. : gyf )>u
lufodest ' if you loved ' = Early WTest-Saxon gif pu lufode.
STRONG VERBS.
1190. In the strong verbs the plur. of the pret. indie,
often has a vowel different from that of the sing. : ic band,
we bundon. The 2nd sing. pret. indie, and the whole pret.
subj. always have the vowel of the pret. plur. indie. : pu
bunde, gif ic bunde, gif we bunden. The following are the
Early West-Saxon inflections of the strong verb bindan : —
§1192.] VERBS: OLD ENGLISH. 367
Indie.
Subj.
Pres. Sing, i
binde
binde
2
bindest, bintst
binde
3
binde}), bint
binde
Plur.
bindaj)
binden
Pret. Sing. I
band
bunde
2
bunde
bunde
3
band
bunde
Plur.
bundon
bunden
Imper. Sing.
bind Infin.
bindan
Plur.
binda}> Gerund
to bindenne
Partic. Pres. bindende
Pret. gebunden.
1191. Some strong verbs are inflected like weak verbs every-
where except in the preterite forms. Thus swgrian ' swear/
pret. swor, is inflected \ikefgrian (1208) : pres. indie, swerige,
swgresf, swgrej>, swgria)) ; subj. pres. swgrige, swgrigen ;
imper. swere, swen'aj) ; pres. partic. swgrigende. Many
strong verbs with double consonants, such as biddan ' pray/
' ask ' pret. bad, are inflected like sgttan (1207) : pres. indie.
bidde, bitst (bidest), bitt (bidep\ bidda}> ; subj. pres. bidde,
bidden; imper. bide, biddap ; pres. partic. biddende.
All of these verbs, both strong and weak, had a j before
their endings in Germanic (768) — ^sivarjan, *farjan> *bidjan,
*satjan ; and hence all of them mutate their root- vowels. The
strong verb ivepan 'weep' is also a 'j-verb,' as shown by its
mutation, the Anglian form being ivcepan, and is declined like
the weak verb hieran, which however has the same endings as
a strong verb in the infinitive and present tenses, and so there
is nothing to distinguish the inflections of ivepan from those of
the ordinary j-less strong verbs : pres. vuepe, ivepst (wepest],
ivep]> (wepej)}, wepaj) ; imper. ivep, etc.
1192. The Germanic forms of the endings -st, -}> were -is,
-z>, which are still preserved in the oldest English : bindis^
bindi}>. In West-Saxon these endings mutated a preceding
vowel and then dropped their own vowels, as in fru lycsl, hit
grewfi from lucan ' close/ ' lock/ growan ' grow.' The re-
368 A CCIDENCE. [§ 1 1 93 .
suiting consonant-combinations were modified in various
ways (767) : #>, dp, ddj> were made into //, /, as in l&tt ' lets/
bitt ' waits/ bitt ' asks/ stgnt ' stands ' from l&tan ' let/ bidan,
btddan, standan ; and s}> became J/, as in ciest ' chooses ' from
ceosan. Similar changes took place in the 2nd pers. sing. :
J)it bitst ' you ask/ }>u ciest. In Anglian the full endings
-es (-est), -ej> were restored, the unmutated vowels being at
the same time restored : letep, bide]), btdefi, biddep, stgndep ;
biddes, ceoses.
1193. The vowel-changes in the strong verbs are gener-
ally due to gradation (770), which is often accompanied by
consonant-change, as in weorpan, geworden (766). But in
some verbs the vowel of the pret. is the result of contraction
of Germanic and Arian reduplication; thus heold 'held'
(infin. healdan) is a contraction of *hehold, *hehald. Traces
of this reduplication are preserved in a few OE preterites,
such as he-ht, later het (infin. hdtan 'call/ ' command ') =
Germanic *hehait (Gothic haihatf).
1194. The following are the classes under which the
strong verbs fall according to their vowel-changes, each
class being named after a characteristic verb. A few exam-
ples only are given of each class. The special Anglian
forms are given in ( ). The forms are given in the order
infin., pret. sing., pret. plur., pret. partkv
I. Reduplicative or fall-class.
1195. The pret. sing, and plur. has eo or /, the pret.
partic. keeping the vowel of the infin. : —
feallan(fallan}ii2\V feoll feollon feallen (fallen}
healdan (haldaii) i hold ' heold heoldon healden (Juihlen}
cnawan ' know ' cneow cneoivon cnau'en
grow an ' grow ' greow greoivon grow en
beatan ' beat ' beot beoton beaten
hatan ' command ' he(h)t he.(h}ton haten
l&tan ' let ' let let on 1 tit en
§ H99-] VERBS; OLD ENGLISff. 369
II. Shake-class.
1196. These verbs have in the infin. a, ea, or, in j-verbs
the mutations /, t'e, in the pret. sing, and plur. 5, in the pret.
partic. a, a :—
far an 'go' for foron faren"
scocon
hofon
scacan ' shake '
h^bbon (768) 'raise'
scoc
hof
scacen
hafen, hcefen
III. Bind-class.
band, bond
geald (gald)
healp (halp)
bcerst
bund on bunden
guidon golden
hulpon holpen
burston borsten
ivear])
feaht (fceht)
wurdon worden
ftthton fohten
1197. In the infin. i, u, e, eo followed by two consonants
one at least of which is nearly always a vowellike con-
sonant— r} I, n, m ; in the pret. sing, a, <z, ea ; in the pret.
plur. u ; in the pret. parlic. u, o.
bindan ' bind '
gieldan (geld an) ' pay :
helpan 'help'
berstan (764) ' burst '
weorpan ' become '
IV. Bear-class.
1198. In the infin. e, ie, i followed by a single consonant
which is generally vowellike ; in brecan the vowellike conso-
nant precedes the vowel ; in the pret. sing, a, CB, ea ; in the
pret. plur. d, ea, o,a\ in the pret. partic. o, u : —
beran ( carry ' beer b&ron boren
brecan ' break ' brcec brcecon brocen
scieran (scerari) ' cut ' scear (sccsr) scearon (scerori) scoren
niman ' take ' nain, nom nonion^ nainon numen
V. Give- class.
1199. In the infin. e, ie, and, in the j-verbs «*, followed by
a single, non-vowellike consonant, this class differing from
the last only in the pret. partic., which keeps the vowel of the
infin., the mutated i of the j-verbs returning to e : —
VOL. i. B b
370 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1200.
sprecan ' speak ' sprac spr&con sprecen
giefan (gefatt) ' give ' geaf(ga>f] geafon (gefon] giefen (geferi)
sittan ' sit ' scet s&ton seten
licgan'W Iceg Idgon, l&gon legen
VI. Shine-class.
1200. In the infin. z ; pret. sing, a ; pret. plur. and pret.
partie. i\—
drlfan ( drive ' -draf drifon drifen
sclnan ' shine ' scan scinon scinen
writan ' write ' "wrat writon writen
VII. Choose-class.
1201. In the infin. eo, u ; pret. sing, ea ; pret. plur. u ;
pret. partie. o : —
beodan ( command ' bead budon boden
ceosan f choose ' ceas curon coren
freosan ( freeze ' freas fruron froren
bilgan ( bend ' beag, beah bugon bogen
WEAK VERBS.
1202. The weak verbs fall under two main groups, ac-
cording as the vowel of the infin. is mutated or not. The
mutation-group comprises two classes, the liear-class (Meraii)
and the wean-class (wgm'an), the unmutated verbs consti-
tuting the third or love-class (lufiari).
I. Hear-class.
1203. The following are the Early West- Saxon forms : —
Indie. Subj.
Pres. Sing. I hiere htere
2 hurst hiere
3 hter}> htere
Plur. hleraj) hieren
Pret. Sing, i hlerde hierde
2 hlerdest hierde
3 hierde hierde ^
Plur. hlerdoii hlerden
§ I2o6.] VERBS; OLD ENGLISH. 371
Imper. Sing. hler Infin. hieran
Plur. hteraj? Gerund to hlerenne
Partic. Pres. hlerende
Pret. hlered,
1204. This class adds -de in the pret. and -ed in the pret.
partic., where the e is liable to be dropped when an inflec-
tional vowel is added, as in the nom. plur. gehierde. Verbs
ending in /, d, c drop the e in the uninflected form also,
as in asgnd ' sent ' (infin. asgndan), where d is a shortening of
dd. After the breath-consonants /, c the inflectional d is
unvoiced, and c becomes h : me fan ' find/ * meet ' gemett,
tcecan ' show ' getdht. But the full forms dsgnded, gemeted
also occur, especially in Anglian. Similar changes take
place in the pret. -tde, -p(p)de become -//<?, -//<?, as in gemelte
1 found/ dypte ' dipped ' (infin. dyppan). The inflectional d
is also unvoiced after ss and the other breath-consonants, as
in missan ' miss ' mtste, compared with r&sde ' rushed ' from
r&san, where the s=(z). In dypte the / is, of course, a
shortening of pp. There are similar shortenings in sgndan,
s£nde,fyllan,fylde, etc.
1205. I b. Seek-class. In this subdivision of the hear-
class the vowel of the infin. is unmutated in the pret. and
pret. partic., the inflections being the same as in the other
verbs of the hear-class : —
sgllan ( give ' sealde (salde) geseald (gesald)
sec an (see can] ' seek ' sohte, sohte gesdhf, gesoht
1206. Those with n followed by 6 or g—figncan c think/
bringan ' bring ' — drop the nasal and lengthen the preceding
vowel and modify it in other ways : fyncan, }>ohte, gepoht
= Germanic *fiankjan, *panhta, an before h having been
regularly changed to nasal <?, which in OE as regularly
became d. Long vowels were shortened in OE before ///, so
that fiohte, etc. became fiohte. Seek-verbs in -get carry the
B b 2
372 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1207.
mutated vowel / into the pret. and pret. partic. in Late West-
Saxon : strgccan, ' stretch/ streahte, streaht (strczhte, straht]
later strghte, strght.
1207. It will be observed that all verbs of the hear-class
have long syllables in the infin. — either a long vowel, as in
hleran, or a vowel followed by two consonants, as in sgndan,
fyllan. In the latter verb the // is Germanic [cp. the adjec-
tive full\ and is therefore kept through all the inflections of
the verb, except where / is written for // before a consonant
in contracted forms : pres. indie, fylle, fylkst (fylst], fylle}>
(fylfi), fyllap ; imper. sing. fyll> etc. But most of the
verbs of this class with double consonants in the infin., such
as sgttan ' set/ are inflected like strong j-verbs such as biddan
(1191), the double consonant being also shortened in the
pret. and pret. partic. : pres. indie, sgtte, sgist (sgtes), sgtt (sgtef),
sgttafi; subj. S£tle(n)\ imper. sgfe, sgitaj)\ pres. part, sgttende;
pret. sgtle— *s$tede, pret. partic. gesgted, gesgtt. Some of these
verbs belong to the seek-division, such as secgan ' say ' :
pres. indie, sfcge, sfgst (s&es), stgj> (s£gej>\ s^cgap ; imper.
s££e> s£t£afr > pres. partic. sgcgende ; pret. scegde, pret. partic.
gescpgd. So also sgllan has pres. indie, sgtte, sgfy (s$le}>\ sglla]>,
imper. j//<?, sgllafr, etc.
II. Wean-class.
1208. All of these verbs have infin. -ian and a short root-
syllable with a mutated vowel. They form their pret. in -ede,
and their pret. partic. in -ed, which is never contracted. The
following are the Early West-Saxon forms of wgman ' accus-
tom ' :—
Indie. Subj.
Pres. Sing. I wgnige tugnige
2 ivgnest iu£nige
3 ivene]) ivgnigc
Plur. wgniafr wgnigen
§ 1 2 TO.] VERBS ; OLD ENGLISH. 373
Indie. Subj.
Pret. Sing. I iv^nede ivgnede
2 ivgnedest ivgnede
3 wgnede ivgnede
Plur. ivgnedon wgneden
Imper. Sing. wgne Infin. ivgnian
Plur. wgnia}> Gerund to wgnigenne
Partic. Pres. ivgnigende
Pret. gewgned.
So alsoyjr/fl« ' carry ' [far an ' go '] sty Han ' stir/
III. Love-class.
1209. In Germanic these verbs had infinitives -an, -on,
of which -tan is a later development and therefore does not
cause mutation like the -tan of the wean-class, which is of
Germanic origin. The following are the Early West- Saxon
forms : —
Indie. Subj.
Pres. Sing. I lufige lufige
2 lufast lufige
3 lufa]> lufige
Plur. lufiaj? lufigen
Pret. Sing. I lufode lufode
2 lufodest lufode
3 lufode lufode
Plur. lufodon lufoden
Imper. Sing. lufa Infin. lufian
Plur. lufiap Gerund to lufigenne
Partic. Pres. lufigende
Pret. gelufod.
So also dscian ' ask/ macian ( make,' and many others.
Irregular Weak Verbs.
1210. Some weak verl5s, such as libban ' live/ show a
mixture of the inflections of the hear- and the love-class :
pres. indie, libbe, kofast, leofafi, Ubbafr ; subj. libbe(ii) \ imper.
374 ACCIDENCE. [§ i2ii.
leofa, h'bbafi] pres. partic. libbende-, pret. lifde, pret. partic.
gelifd.
PRETERITE-PRESENT VERBS.
1211. These verbs have for their presents old strong pre-
terites; thus the preterite-present verb wdt 'I know' was
originally a strong preterite of the shine-class. The present
of these verbs differs however from the strong preterites in the
2nd sing; indie., which ends in /or st, a /before the inflectional
/ also becoming s : ic steal ' I shall/ pu scealt ; ic cann ' I know,'
Jm canst ; ic wdt ' I know/ }>u wast.
1212. From these presents new weak preterites are formed
with various irregular changes : sceolde, cu^e, wiste.
1213. Many of these verbs are defective, the infin., imper.,
and participles being often wanting. The subj. is often
substituted for the imper. sing. The following are the inflec-
tions of witan 'know ' : —
Indie. Subj. '
Pres. Sing, i wat <wite
2 wast wife
3 wdt wite
Plur. wit on wit en
Pret. Sing, i wiste wiste
•2 wistest wiste
3 wiste wiste
Plur. wist on wist en
Imper. Sing. wite Infin. witan
Plur. wita}> Gerund to witenne
Partic. Pres. witende
Pret. witen.
Middle-English.
EAKLY MIDDLE ENGLISH.
1214. The ME levelling of weak vowels under e had a
comparatively slight effect on the verb inflections, especially
§ 1220.] VERBS; EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 375
in Early Southern, where the OE verb-inflections were pre-
served very faithfully. But the inevitable change of -a, -ast,
-aj>, -ode into -£, -esf, -e}>, -ede, as in !uve, Invest, luvefr, luvede
= OE lufa, lufast, lufap, lu/ode, necessarily led to a complete
levelling of the old wean- and love-classes of weak verbs, the
ME love-class including all the OE ian-verbs whether accom-
panied by mutation or not.
1215. The Southern tendency to drop final n first affected
the infin. and pret. partic. : Early Southern linden, bmde ;
ibunden, ibunde.
1216. The tendency to shorten double consonants in weak
syllables made the OE gerund to bindenne into ME to
bmdene.
1217. The tendency to drop final weak e after another
Weak syllable (794) led to the shortening of to bmdene into
to binden^ which made it liable to be confused with the infin.
So also luvie = OE lufge, lufian was often shortened to luvi.
In the South-Thames dialects this -/ afterwards came to be
regarded as the special mark of the infin., being sometimes
extended to strong verbs as well as weak verbs with OE infin.
-an.
1218. In Early Southern the pres. partic. ending is -znde,
as in bmdinde, herinde, which probably owes its i to the influ-
ence of the verbal nouns in -inge, -mg=OE ~t'ng, -ung, such
as lermnge—QE, leornung.
1219. Early Southern keeps the prefix t-=zQEge- : ibunden,
ihered— OE gebunden, gehered.
1220. The most important change in the strong verbs is
that many of them became weak. Already in OE such verbs
as slcepan ' sleep,' ondr&dan ' fear/ had the weak preterites
sl&pte, ondrddde by the side of the strong slep, ondred ; in
Late West-Saxon hebban 'raise' has the weak pret. hgfde
by the side of strong hof, and so on. In MR this is carried
much further. Thus even in the earliest ME we find the
OE strong preterites let ' let/ weop ' wept ' represented not
376 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1221.
only by lei, weop, but also by the weak lette, ivepte, although
such forms as wep still survive in Standard Late ME. Many
other weak and strong forms existed side by side for a
long time ; and although in MnE the weak forms have nearly
always prevailed, this was not always the case in ME, where,
for instance, such a weak pret. as hefde ' raised ' was in the
Late ME period discarded in favour of the new-formed strong
pret. haf, the old hof being also preserved.
1221. The inflections of the strong verbs that remained
were modified by various levelling influences. The muta-
tion in the contracted forms of the OE presents was got rid
of by bringing in the unmutated vowel of the infin., etc., as in
berfi ' carries/ tret ' treads,' stont ' stands/ infin. beren, treden,
stjnden—fL&vly West-Saxon bierp (bire)>\ tritt, stgnt.
1222. The gradation of consonants in the OE ceosan,
gecoren, etc. was got rid of by carrying the s through : cheosen,
chesen, cfi/s, ichosen.
1223. In this last verb we can also observe the extension
of r^=OE c to the original c of the pret. partic., so as to
make initial ch uniform through the whole verb. We can
observe the opposite levelling of ch under c in such verb-forms
as kerven, Xw/=OE ceorfan, tearf, which have taken their
back-consonant from the OE pret. plur. cur/on and pret.
partic. corfen.
1224. But in some verbs the old consonant-gradations
were preserved, as \uforlesen ' lose/ forlgs, forloren.
1225. Some of the ME changes had the contrary effect of
creating new distinctions. Thus OE &, ce was regularly
shortened before consonant-groups, and the resulting ce was
afterwards broadened to a (797), as in the OE pret. t&hle
'showed/ which in ME passed through tahte into tahte,
whence MnE taught. In many preterites and pret. participles
these changes gave rise only to divergence of quantity, as in
meten, met/e, imet=.Q~E gemetan, etc., and in Northern ledde=.
Southern ladde from Ijden 'lead' = OE Icedan, la-dde.
§ 1 2 29.] VERBS; EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH.
377
1226. The following are the inflections of the strong verb
linden, and of the weak verbs heren ' hear ' and luvien, as
representatives of the two classes of weak verbs in Early
Southern : —
Pres. Indie. Sing, i binde
2 blndest, bintst
3 bindej>, bint
Plur. btndej)
her
her(e)st
her(e}]>
here})
luvie
hivest
luvep
luviep
Pres. Subj. Sing. binde
Plur. blnden
here
heren
luvie
luvien
Pret. Indie. Sing, i bgnd
2 bunde
herde
herdest
luvede
luvedest
3 t>Qnd
Plur. bunden
herde
herden
luvede
luveden
Pret. Subj. Sing, i <tedfc
2 bunde
herde
herdest
luvede
luvedest
3 bunde
Plur. bunden
herde
herden
luvede
luveden
Imper. Sing. £/#rf
Plur. binde J>
here
herej>
luvie
luvie]>
Infin. binden
heren
luvien
Gerund bindene
herene
luviene
Partic. Pres. bindinde
herinde
luviinde
Pret. ibunden
iher(e}d
iluved.
1227. In the forms binde ge, bunde ge, -e is substituted
for -e)> (1180).
1228. It will be observed that the distinction between the
two classes of weak verbs is very slight, the z'of the love-class
being often dropped — i luve, we luvefi, etc. —while the imper.
sing, here has taken the e of luvie, luve.
Midland.
1229. In Early Midland many levellings which are only
just beginning in Early Southern are fully carried out.
The love-class lost their i entirely, and as the hear-class
generally had the full Anglian endings -est, -efi, there is only
3 7 8 A CCIDENCE. [§ 1 2 30.
one set of inflections for the two classes : her en, lufen=
Southern heren, luvien. On the other hand, the contracted
forms of the hear-class are extended to the love-class, as in
bir]> ' befits/ ' becomes ' pret. birde = OE gebyrep, gebyrede,
infin. gebyrian (wean-class).
1230. The characteristic feature of the Midland verb is its
extension of the plur. ending -en of the subj. pres. and of the
pret. indie, and subj. — gif fiei lufen, pei comen ' came/ gifpei
comen, }>ei brohten — to the present indie, plur. : we lufen, frei
cumen— Southern we luviep, heo cumefi. But the older -(<?)/
is kept in the imper. plur. : cumep !, bep ! ' be ye ' = Southern
cumep, beojf.
1231. In Early Midland the gerund was completely levelled
under the infin. : to bmden, id heren.
1232. In Midland the pres. partic. keeps the old ending :
bmdende, herende, lufende. The n of the infin. and strong
pret. partic. is never dropped as in Southern. The pret.
partic. loses its prefix ge-.
1233. The distinction between single and double conso-
nant forms in the old j-verbs, such as hgbban, hgfe}>, hof,
ha/en and libban, leofa}>, lifde, which was still kept up in Early
Southern — hebben, heve]>\ libben, levep, livep — began to break
down in Early Midland through the extension of the single
consonant forms ; thus in Early Midland we find pres. plur*
indie, lifen— Early Southern libbep, although the older infin.
libben is still kept in Early Midland ; but hefen is used not
only as a pres. plur., but also as an infin.
Northern.
1234. In the Northern dialect inflectional J? had been
changed to j, and final n had begun to drop off already in the
OE period : Old Northumbrian bindes, bmdas, bmda-= Mercian
Imdefa binda}>, bindan. In the Early Middle period weak
final e was dropped, so that the infin. &>/<£= Old Northum-
brian binda became monosyllabic bind, under which the
§ 1238.] VERBS; EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 379
gerund to bind was levelled. The subj. l>mde=Old North,
sing, and plur. binde was reduced to the same monosyllable.
Hence also the pret. plur. herden was reduced to the same
form as the sing. — herd. The effect of these changes on a
strong pret. such as that of bind was to leave only two forms
— band ist and 3rd pers. sing, indie., and bund 2nd pers.
sing, and plur. and subj. generally — and the vowel change
was soon got rid of by extension of the vowel of the ist and
3rd person sing, indie. : i band., fru band, we band.
1235. In Late Old Northumbrian the old ending of the
2nd person pres. -es, -as, etc. was preserved by the influence
of the new 3rd person -es, -as = -ej>, -ap. Hence in Early
Northern -^became the common ending of the 2nd and 3rd
persons indie, pres. sing. In the pres. indie, plur. -es = older
-as, -ias was dropped when the verb was immediately pre-
ceded or followed by its pronoun : we pat bmdes, men bmdes ;
we bind, fiai bind. The ' absolute ' form was afterwards ex-
tended to the ist pers. sing, as well • i pat bmdes.
1236. The n of the strong pret. partic. was not lost in Old
Northumbrian because of the inflected forms gebundene, etc.,
by whose influence the n was restored in the uninflected
form; hence it was always kept in the ME Northern dialect
as well.
1237. The Northern form of the pres. partic. is -and:
bmdand, herand= Midland and OE bindende, herende, Southern
bindinde, herinde. This a is the result of Scandinavian influ-
ence : Icel. bindandi, heyrandi.
1238. The following are then the most distinctive verb-
inflections of the three dialects in their Early Middle
periods : —
Southern. Midland. Northern.
Indie. Pres. Sing. I binde binde bind
2 kindest, binJst bindest bmdes
3 bmdefi, bint binde]> bmdes
Plur. blnde}> binden bind(es)
ACCIDENCE. [§ 1239.
Southern. Midland. Northern.
Imper. Sing, bind bind bind
Plur. bindej) bmdefi bind(es]
Pres. Partic. bmdinde bindende binda?id
LATE MIDDLE-ENGLISH.
1239. The most important change in Standard ME and
in Late South-Thames English generally is the further assimi-
lation of the pres. partic. to the verbal nouns in -inge by
which the earlier bmdinde became bmdmge, a change of which
we see traces already in Early Southern, as in heo riden sing-
inge ' they rode singing '=OE hie ridon singende. But as the
verbal nouns also occur without final -e, the distinction be-
tween lerninge partic. and lerning noun was not entirely lost.
1240. Early ME d was changed to / in the weak pret. and
pret. partic. of verbs in rd, Id, nd : girte, girt, infin. girden ;
bilte, bilt infin. bilden ; wente, went infin. wenden = Early
Southern gilrde, giird\ billde, biild; wende, wend. This
change served to distinguish such forms as he sende pres. subj.
and he sente pret., which in Early ME were both expressed by
the first form. But it is also carried out in some words with
/, //, n, nn\ felen 'feel' _/£//£ ; dwellen, dwelte\ mjnen, mente\
brennen 'burn/ brente', and after s=(z) and v, where it un-
voices these consonants : losien=QfiL losian, losle\ l/ven = OE
tcefan, lefte, lafte.
1241. In Standard ME we see the same levelling and
simplifying tendencies at work as in Early Midland and
Northern. The old vowel-change in such preterites as b$nd
is still kept up, but the short form bgnd is often extended
throughout the pret. : }>u bgnd, we bgnd as well as }>u bounde,
we bounde(n).
1242. In some verbs of the bear- and give-class the e of
the plural is sometimes extended to the sing, as in der, set by
the side of bar, ,$•#/= OE beer, sat plur. bdron, sceton, Anglian
beron, seton.
§ 1248.] VERBS; LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH. 381
1243. Influence of the strong plur. pret. on the sing, is
also seen in such sing, preterites as slow, saw= Early Southern
sloh plur. slowen, Late OE sldh, slogan, OE seah^ sdwon.
1244. In Late ME the pret. partic. begins to influence the
pret. plur. As a general rule the old pret. plurals were
preserved in Late ME only when they had the same vowel
as the pret. partic., as in pei bounden, fiei dronken, frei ivonnen
(class 3), riden, writen (class 6) ; otherwise the plur. pret. took
the vowel of the pret. partic. : }>ei holpen,foghten, chgsen.
1245. The sing, of the imper. began to be extended to the
plur : bind ' bind ye ' by the side of bmdej>.
1246. In the love-class of weak verbs the i was dropped
entirely, and the pret. ending -ede was often shortened to -ed
in accordance with the general principle of dropping weak e
after a weak syllable : he lovefi, he loved.
1247. Some of the above changes may be the result of
Midland influence, of which we have an undoubted example
in the substitution of -en (-e) for -ej> in the plur. indie, pres.
-ep was, of course, kept in the plur. imper., although here also
the Midland ending seems to occur in its shortened form -e :
binde.
1248. The following are the Standard ME inflections of
the three verbs whose Early ME inflections have been given
already : —
Pres. Indie. Sing, i binde here Idve
2 bmdest her(e]st Invest
3 bindej>, bint her(e}]> loveb
Plur. btnde(n) here(n) ldve(n)
Pres. Subj. Sing. binde here love
Plur. btnde(n) here(n) love(n)
Pret. Indie. Sing, i bgnd herde lSved(e]
2 bounde, bgnd herdest l&vedest
3 bgnd herde loved(e)
Plur. bounde(n\ bgmi herde(tt) ldvede(n\ loved
Pret. Subj. Sing, i bounde herde I8ved(e]
2 bounde hcrde(sf) lovede(sf), loved
3 bounde herde I8ved(e]
Plur. bounde(ii) herde(n] lovcde(ii}, loved
ACCIDENCE.
[§ J249-
Imper. Sing.
Plur.
bind
bmde(J>)) bind
her(e)
here(J>), her
I8ve
loTje(J))
Infin.
Gerund
Partic. Pres.
Pret.
binde(ii)
bmden(e\ binde
bmdinge
(i}bounde(ri)
herein)
heren(e)) here
heringe
(t)herd
I8z>e(ii)
I8ven(e), love
l&vinge
The following examples will show the regular development
of the different classes of strong verbs : —
1249. fallen
hglden
grow en •
kng-wen
1250. shaken
waken
laughen
drawen
I. Fall-class.
fell
held
grew
knew
fellen
helden
grewen
knewen
II. Shake-class.
shok shaken
•wok woken
laugh, low lowen
drough, drow drowen
fallen
hglden,
growen
kngwen
shaken
waken
laughen
drawen
Observe that the preterites of this class have split up into
two groups, one with o, the other with (uu) [806].
1251. blnden
singen
drinken
winnen
kerven
helpen
fighten
1252. stjlen
bgren
1253. gjten
sitten
III. Bind-class.
bjjnd
SQIlg
drank
wan
karf
halp
/aught
IV. Bear-class.
bounden
bounden
songen
dronken
songen
dronken
wonnen
wonnen
korven
korven
ho Ip en
foghten
holpen
foghten
stal
bar, her
stelen, stal
bereft, bar
V. Give-class.
gat
sat, set
geten, gat
scten, sat
stglen
bgren
s~£ten
§ 1257.] VERBS; MODERN ENGLISH. 383
VI. Shine-class.
1254. riden rgd riden riden
nvriten wrgt writen writen
VII. Choose-class.
1255. crepen crjp crjjpen crgpen
chesen chjs chgsen chgsen
Modern English.
1256. The main innovation in the MnE verb-inflections
was the introduction of the Northern -s in the 3rd pers. sing,
pres. indie. — he calls — which was introduced into Standard
English through the medium of the Midland dialect. It did
not entirely supplant the older -th — he calleth — which still
survives in the higher literary language.
1257. The MnE verb is further characterized by the
development of a gerund. When the pres. partic. ending
-inge lost its final vowel, the last vestige of a formal distinc-
tion between such a pres. partic. as lerning and the verb-noun
lerning disappeared. In OE the number of verb-nouns in
-ung, -ing was limited, especially in the earlier stages of the
language. In ME their number increased, and when the
pres. partic. in -inge was fully established, and became indis-
tinguishable in form from the ing-nouns, these could be
formed at pleasure from any verb; or, in other words, every
pres. partic. could be used as a verb-noun. At first — in
Early MnE as well as ME — these words were used entirely
as nouns — taking the article the before them and the prepo-
sition of after them, etc. — as in he. thanked him for the saving
of his life, where saving is used exactly like the abstract noun
preservation ; but by degrees they were treated like infinitives,
the article being dropped and the following noun joined on
to them as to the corresponding finite verb ; so that the above
sentence was shortened to he thanked him for saving his life.
384 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1258.
In such constructions, which began in Early MnE, saving etc.
are true noun-verbals or gerunds.
1258. In MnE the dropping of weak final e, together with
the ME tendency to drop final weak n, had a great effect in
simplifying the verb-inflections. The monosyllabic bind be-
came the representative of the following ME forms: pres.
indie, ist pers. sing, i bmde, plur. we binde(n\ etc., pres. subj.
binde, bmde(n\ The levelling of the distinction between the
pret. and pret. partic. which had begun in ME was completed
in the MnE forms herd (heard), loved representing ME herde,
loved(e] and (i}herd, (i}loved. Such weak verbs as set and cast
became invariable in the pret. and pret. partic. : infin. set, pret.
set, pret. partic. u?/=ME sette(n\ sette, (i)set. Moreover in
such verbs the distinction between strong and weak conjuga-
tion is effaced : compare set pret. set with let pret. /<?/= OE
sgttan, sgtte; Idtan, let.
1259. The weak vowel of the endings -est, -eth, -es, -ed
was dropped in Early MnE in the spoken language, ex-
cept that full -est, -es was always kept after the hiss-con-
sonants (s, z ; J, 5), being subject to exactly the same rules as
the noun-inflectional ~es (997), as in misses/, misses, risest,
rises, wishes, singes. Full -ed was preserved after the point-
stops /, d, as in hated, wanted, wedded, wounded=WE, hatede,
etc. Otherwise all these endings were shortened in speech
without regard to the ME forms — in loves (luvz), lowest,
lovcth (luvf>), as well as heares, hears, hearest, heareth. In
this way the distinction between the two classes of weak
verbs was finally done away with as far as the endings were
concerned, the distinction being only partially recognizable in
the sound-changes in such verbs as hear, heard (hiir, hard) ;
feel, felt', teach, taught.
1260. But in the higher language the full endings -est,
-eth, -ed were freely used after all consonants indifferently,
especially in poetry, for the sake of the metre, -es was not
used in this way because the less familiar -eth could always be
§ 1263.] VERBS; MODERN ENGLISH. 385
substituted for it. Some very common verbs were, however,
used only in the short forms, such as dost, doth, mayst, wouldst,
especially the contracted hast, hath, had=- ME havest, hast
etc. -est was generally shortened in weak preterites, as in
lovedst, criedsf. -est and -eth are obsolete in Present English
except in the higher language, in which they naturally keep
their full forms, except in dost, hath etc. The higher lan-
guage also keeps full -ed in many forms where the spoken
language contracts, as in beloved (bi'Levid) compared with
loved (iBvd), blessed are the peacemakers.
1261. The vowel of the full endings is now weak (i), as in
(raizist, raiziz, raizij?, heitid), and in Early MnE as well as
Late ME it was often written i,y instead of e, as in Early
MnE thou spekyst, he dwellith, putty th, passi'd, armyd.
1262. In writing, the silent e of ~es was generally omitted
in Early MnE, as in sits, binds', but not after v, as in loves,
nor, of course, where required to show the pronunciation of a
preceding letter, as in shines. The other endings were some-
times written in full, sometimes without the e, whose absence
was often marked by an apostrophe : seemed, seem'd, seemd.
The first two spellings continued in common use up to the
second half of the last century, the full spelling being now
preferred. But -aid is written without the e in monosyllables
such as said, paid (Early MnE &\so paied, payed, payd). The
omission of the e in heard compared w\{\\ feared is necessary
to show the pronunciation.
1263. The consonant of shortened ~es was assimilated as
regards breath and voice to the preceding consonant in the
same way as in the noun-inflections : lets, leads (\eedz), loves
(luvz). The same assimilations took place with shortened
-ed: loved (luvd), breathed (brm5d), thanked (}?arjkt), blessed,
-ed being thus used to express (t), this spelling was often
extended to such preterites as burnt, smelt, which were written
burned, smelled, although they come from ME brente, smelte.
But the phonetic spellings thank' t, thankt (thank'd), drop/,
VOL. i. c c
386 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1264.
crost (crossed), accurst also came into partial use, and some
of them have become fixed, such as past in half past one
compared with the time has passed quickly.
The above are organic changes. We have now to consider
the internal changes in the verb-inflections, beginning with
those of a levelling character.
1264. The change of strong to weak verbs which we
observe in ME went on in the transition from ME to MnE,
and, in some cases, in MnE itself. Thus the Early MnE
preterite clomb and the pret. partic. molten have now become
climbed, melted. But some of the weak forms that arose in
Early MnE have now been discarded, such as the Shakesperian
pret. participles corned, becomed.
1265. On the other hand, several weak verbs have been
made strong by the analogy of strong verbs, such as stick,
stuck (OE stician, sticode] by the analogy of sting, stung ; wear,
wore, worn (OE wgrian, wgrede) by the analogy of swear, swore,
sworn. So also several weak verbs in -oiv have taken pret.
participles in -own by the analogy of know, known, etc.,
keeping the original weak pret. : show, pret. showed, pret.
partic. shown (OE sceawian, sceawode).
1266. The levelling of the short quantity of the vowels in
the sing, of strong preterites under the long quantity of the
pret. partic. and infin. seen in Late ME bar = Early ME 3/r,
bar is carried much further in MnE, as in brake, spake = Late
ME brak, spak, pret. partic. broken, infin. broken etc. When
a certain number of preterites in a had been thus lengthened,
others were lengthened without regard to the length of the
other parts of the verb, such as came, &ade=ME cam, bad,
infin. comen, bidden, although the latter had a long vowel in
the pret. partic. bjden.
1267. There is also a regular process of voice-levelling in
the MnE strong verb, by which final (s, f) in the pret. sing,
becomes voiced as in the infin. and pret. partic., as in rose,
§ 1270.] VERBS; MODERN ENGLISH. 387
chose, gave, drove = ME rgs, chjs, gaf, drgf, in fin. risen, driven
etc., pret. partic. driven etc.
1268. The distinction between pret. sing, and plur. was
levelled, as we have seen, in the MnE weak verbs by phonetic
changes. In the strong verbs it was levelled by external,
analogical changes. Already in ME strong verbs the vowel
of the sing, was often carried into the plur., especially when
the plur. had a vowel different from that of the pret. partic.,
as in pei stal instead offaz stelen (pret. partic. stgleri). Hence
such Early MnE preterites as bare, brake, gave, sat correspond
to ME singulars.
1269. In many cases, however, MnE strong preterites have
the vowel of the ME pret. plur. We have seen that in Late
ME there was an intimate connection between the vowel of the
pret. plur. and of the pret. partic. in strong verbs, so that at last
the pret. plur., when it differed from the pret. sing., almost
always had the vowel of the pret. partic. Hence in MnE the
vowel of the pret. plur. when thus supported by the pret.
partic. was often able to supplant the original singular- vowel.
This was carried out consistently in those verbs of the bind-
class which had ME (uu) in the pret. plur. and pret. partic. :
bound, found= ME bgnd,fjjnd, plur. bounden etc. The same
change took place in other verbs of the bind-class, and in
some of the shine- and choose-class, many verbs having two
preterites in Early MnE, one representing the ME pret. sing.,
the other with the vowel of the plur. : began, begun ; sang,
sung ; stang, stung ; f aught, fought= ME bigan, sgng, stpng,
faught — bit; rode, rid; wrote, z#n'/=ME bgt, rgd, wrgt.
The present forms of these preterites are began, sang, stung,
fought, bit, rode, wrote, the tendency evidently being to favour
the original sing, forms.
127O. But there has been in MnE a further assimilation of
the pret. to the pret. partic., which has affected nearly all verbs
of the bear-class with ME g in the pret. partic. : already in
Early MnE we find the preterites bore, broke, spoke by the side
C C 2
388 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1271.
of bare, brake, spake = ME 6ar, brak, spak, ME stal being
represented by stole only in Early MnE. In Present English
bare etc. survive only in the higher language.
1271. When a direct association had thus been established
between the pret. and pret. partic. the two parts of the
verb began to be confused— a confusion which was helped
by the pret. partic. in / have seen etc. having nearly the same
meaning as the pret. / saw etc. — so that the pret. began
to be substituted for the pret. partic. in some verbs, especially
when the older form of the pret. partic. was liable to be for-
gotten through not being in very frequent use — as in the case
of ME shinen from shmen — or ambiguous — as in the case of
ME stgnden, which was both pret. partic. and infin. — or
anomalous and irregular in any way, as in sjten compared
with the infin. sitten. Hence in MnE the original preterites
shone, stood, sat have supplanted the older pret. participles.
In Early MnE this was carried still further than in Standard
Present English, as in took, shook, arose = taken, shaken,
arisen.
1272. In the above examples the pret. participles shone
etc. lost their final n through the substitution of a form with
a different vowel. Such pret. participles as bound, begun=.
ME bounden, bigonnen may be considered' either as the result
of extension of the MnE pret. forms bound etc., or of
dropping the e of the curtailed ME forms (z)bounde, etc.
It sometimes happens that the pret. partic. ending -en is
dropped in a verb, but preserved in an adjective formed from
the pret. partic. before it had lost the -en, as in the adjectives
drunken, bounden (in bounden duty] compared with the pret.
participles drunk, bound.
1273. In Early MnE the ending -est was extended to the
pret. indie, of strong verbs : thou boundest, thou spakest = ME
bounde, bjjnd, spak. The rare Early MnE dropping of -st in
weak as well as strong preterites, as in thou saw, thou maked,
thou had is probably the result of Northern influence. But in
§ 1275.] VERBS; MODERN ENGLISH. 389
Present English, poets often instinctively drop this harsh and
heavy inflection, especially when the verb is separated from
its pronoun : where thou once formed thy paradise (Byron).
Verbs whose pret. is the same as the pres. — especially those
in -st — frequently drop the inflectional st> or else add it with
an intervening -ed for the sake of distinctness : thou castedst
or thou cast.
1274. The following is the Early MnE conjugation of the
strong verb see and the weak verb call'. —
Indie. Pres. Sing. I see call
2 seest call(e)st
3 seeth) sees call(e)th, calls
Plur. see call
Subj. Pres. see call
Pret. Indie. Sing, i saw call(e]d
2 saw(e)st calledst
3 saw call(e)d
Plur. saw call(e]d
Pret. Subj. saw call(e)d
Imper. see call
In fin. see call
Pres. Partic. and Gerund seeing calling
Pret. Partic. seen call(e)d
Besides the above inflections there are others which occur
only as isolated archaisms. The contracted -t—-eth has left
a trace in the form list * wishes/ ' likes,' as in let him do it when
he //.$•/= OE lyst (lyste]y) from the weak verb lystan. All three
ME indie, plurals are found in the Early MnE literary language,
the most frequent of which — the Midland -en— survives in the
Shakesperian they waxen in their mirth. The Southern -eth
and the Northern -es are much less frequent. The infin. or
gerund in -en survives in Shakespere : to killen.
1275. The following examples will show the regular
development of the different classes of strong verbs in literary
MnE. It will be observed that the best-preserved classes
are the 3rd and the 6th, the others being so reduced in the
39°
ACCIDENCE.
[§ 1276.
number of their verbs, and there being so much divergence
of form, that they retain hardly a trace of their OE
characteristics : —
1276. fall
hold
grow
know
1277. shake
take
I. Fall-class.
fell
held
grew
knew
II. Shake-class.
shook
took
fallen
held, beholden
grown
known
shaken
taken
The Late ME preterites in (-uu)=OE -oh, such as drow,
slow, were in Early MnE levelled under the more numerous
ew- verbs of the fall-class : draw, drew ; slay, slew.
III. Bind-class.
1278. sing
drink
sang
drank
sung
drttnk
sting
stung
stung
swing
bind
swung
bound
swung
boi:nd(t
find
fight
found
fought
found
fought
IV. Bear-class.
1279. bear
steal
bare, bore
stole
born(e)
stolen
V. Give-class.
1280. give
gave
given
weave
wove
woven
sit
sat
sat
VI. Shine-class.
1281. drive
drove
driven
rise
rose
risen
§ 1285.] VERBS; PRESENT ENGLISH. 391
write wrote written
bite bit bitten
shine shone shone
The occasional Early MnE preterites drave, straw, etc.,
are probably Northern forms.
VII. Choose-class.
1282. freeze froze frozen
choose chose chosen
PRESENT ENGLISH.
1283. In the present Spoken English the earlier substitution
stiyou see, you saw for thou sees/, thou sawest, and of he sees for
he seeth has been completely carried out, so that the older
-st and -th survive only in proverbs and in phrases taken from
the higher literary language, where the older forms still
survive.
Having traced the English verb down to its most reduced
MnE form, it will now be more instructive to regard it from
a purely descriptive, unhistorical point of view.
1284. If we examine the Present English verb from this
point of view, the first thing that strikes us is that the tra-
ditional distinction between strong and weak verbs can no
longer be maintained : without going back to ME we cannot
tell whether such preterites as sat, lit, led, held, infinitives sit,
light, lead, hold, are strong or weak.
1285. We are therefore compelled to make a new division
into consonantal and vocalic. Consonantal verbs are
those which form their preterites and pret. participles by
adding d or /, such as called, looked, heard, burnt, infinitives
call, look, hear, burn. Vocalic verbs are those which form
their preterites or pret. participles by vowel-change without
the addition of any consonant, except that the pret. partic. of
some of these verbs adds -en : sing, sang, sung ; bind, bound,
bound] run, ran, run — drive, drove, driven; speak^ spoke,
spoken ; see, saw, seen. Under the vocalic verbs we must also
392 ACCIDENCE. ' [§ 1286.
include the invariable verbs : let, let, let ; cast, cast, cast.
Mixed verbs show a mixture of consonantal and vocalic
inflection: crow, crew, crowed', show, showed, shown.
1286. The great majority of verbs belong to the regular con-
sonantal conjugation, their pret. and pret.partic. ending being —
a. (-id) after (t) and (d) : delighted, nodded.
b. (-d) after the other voice sounds : played, raised, saved,
turned, dragged.
c. (-t) after the other breath consonants : hissed, pushed,
looked.
1287. Compared with these verbs those of the vocalic class
must be regarded as irregular, although many of jthem fall
under more or less uniform classes. There are also irregular
consonantal verbs, such as burn, burnt, compared with the
regular turn, turned. There is also a small class of specially
irregular or anomalous verbs, such as be, was, been, some of
which — mostly comprising the old preterite-present verbs —
are defective, such as (/) can, could, which has no infin.
or participles. The irregular verbs therefore comprise all
the vocalic and anomalous verbs together with some of the
consonantal, all regular verbs being consonantal. All newly
formed verbs are conjugated consonantal ly, the consonantal
inflections being the only living or productive ones.
1288. As regards the relation of consonantal and vocalic
to weak and strong, the following general rules may be laid
down : —
a. Vocalic verbs with pret. partic. in -en are strong.
b. Vocalic verbs not ending in / or d in the pret. are
strong.
c. Vocalic verbs ending in / or d in the pret. may be
either strong or weak.
d. Invariable verbs — which always end in / or d — are
almost always weak.
1289. The following are the inflections of the consonantal
verb call and the vocalic verb see in Spoken English : —
§ 1292.] VERBS; IRREGULAR. 393
Pres. Indie. Sing, i kol sij
2 kol sij
3 kolz sijz
Plur. kol sij
Pres. Subj. kol sij
Pret. (Indie, and Subj.} kold SD
Imper. kol sij
Infin. kol sij
Pres. Partic. and Gerund kolirj sijirj
Pret. Partic. kold sijn
1290. Observe that in the regular conjugation the only
distinctive ' positive ' inflections are -s, -d, -ing, the common
form call being only a negative inflection; also that the
common form represents the whole of the pres. indie, and
subj. except the 3rd pers. sing. pres. indie., the imper., and
the infin. (and supine) ; while -ed represents the pret. indie,
and subj. together with the pret. partic. ; and even -ing has
two distinct functions, the only unambiguous inflection being
the s, which has, however, the same form as the two noun-
inflections, the gen. and the plur.
In Vulgar English the inflectional -s is extended to all the
other persons of the pres. indie. : I says, you says, we says, they
says. This cannot be the result of Northern influence, for in
Northern the s was not added when the pronoun was prefixed,
the Northern forms being / say etc. It is more probable that
the s. being the mark of the pres., was extended for distinctness.
1291. The subj. is very little used even in the educated form
of Spoken English, and in vulgar speech it disappears entirely,
Irregular Verbs in Modern English.
1292. In the following sections the vowel-changes are
arranged in the alphabetic order of the vowels of the pre-
terites in their phonetic spelling, to which the alphabetic
order of the vowels of the infinitive is subordinated, thus
(ei . . . e) as in say, said, and then (ij . . e), as in flee, fled,
394 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1293.
precede (ia . . 39), and this is followed by (uw . . o), etc.
Forms that occur only in the higher literary language are
marked *. Obsolete forms are marked t.
CONSONANTAL VERBS.
With Vowel-change.
Verbs which take the regular consonantal inflection (d, t),
but with vowel-change : —
Vowel-change (ei . . e).
1293. say, said (sei, sed). In this verb the vowel-change
in the pret. is exceptionally carried out in the 3rd sing. pres.
indie, as well — (sez) says. OE weak I b sgcgan, soegde, sagd.
In ME the t^-forms of this verb were preserved in South-
Thames English ; but in the North-Thames dialects the g-
forms sggest, sggefi, imper. sgge were extended to the original
4^-forms : t seie, infin. sein, set'en, pres. partic. seiende. These
became the Standard ME forms also. The OE pret. scegde
— Late West- Saxon scede — developed regularly into saide in
ME, which was also made into seide by the influence of the
other parts of the verb. In Early MnE we find the shortened
(sed) — which was probably at first a weak foim — as well as the
full (said) ; (sed) is probably an Early MnE shortening of (ee)
= ME (ai) — a shortening which also took place in says. All
the other OE ^-verbs show a similar extension of the ^--forms
in ME, so that the OE infinitives began, fyegan, bycgan appear
in MnE as lie (ME lien), lay (ME leien), buy (ME bien), which
correspond phonetically to the OE imperatives liget Igge, byge.
Vowel-change (ij . . e).
1294. flee, fled (flij, fled). OE strong VII fleon (Oldest
English fleohari], fleah, plur. flugon, pret. partic.^grw. There
was another OE verb of the same class, some of whose forms
were identical with forms of fleon, namely fleogan ' fly/ fleag
(fleah), pret. plur. flugon, pret. partic. flogen. As the two
§ I3oo.] VERBS; IRREGULAR. 395
verbs were similar in meaning also, they were frequently con-
founded in Late West-Saxon, the distinctive forms tffleogan
being used in the sense of ' flee ' as well as in that of ' fly,'
auidfleon being used in the sense of 'fly.' This confusion
has lasted to the present day, in as far as many modern
writers usey?j/ consistently in the sense of ' run away.' Flee
is now obsolete in the spoken language. In ME the confu-
sion between the two verbs was often avoided by using the
weak verb//<fc»=OE//<&»* (flcedan) « flow/ 'be at high tide '
(said of the sea) from QEflod { flood ' in the sense of ' flee/ its
pret. fledde coming gradually to be regarded as the pret. of the
old strong fleon,flen. This development was probably helped
by the Scandinavian weak \zrbjlyja ' flee/ pret.^y/z'.
1295. creep, crept (krijp, krept). OE strong VII creopan,
creap, cropen. In ME crepen developed a weak pret. crepte by
the side of the strong crep.
1296. leap, lept (lijp, lept). OE strong I hleapan, hleop,
hleapen. ME //pen, lep and lepte.
1297. sleep, slept (slijp, slept). OE strong I sldpan,
step, sl&pen, there being also a weak pret. sldpte. ME
si/pen, slep and slepte.
1298. sweep, swept (swijp, swept). OE strong I swapan,
sweep, szvapen, which in ME became by regular change
swgpen, swept swopen. There was a weak OE verb swipian,
sweopian, ' beat/ which in ME became swepien, swjp(i}en)
and was then confused in meaning with swgpen. The MnE
sweep seems to point to a blending of ME swjpen and the
pret. swep.
1299. weep, wept (wijp, wept). OE strong I j-verb
wepan (w<xpan\ weop, wopen. ME has pret. wep and wepte.
Vowel-change (ia . . ea).
1300. hear, heard (hiar, haad). OE weak I hieran,
hierde, Anglian heran, herde, whence ME heren, herde with
the usual shortening. In Early MnE the (e) of the pret. was
396 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1301.
regularly broadened to (a) before the (r), giving (hiiar, hard).
The spelling heard shows the not unfrequent lengthening of
ME e before (r)-combinations, which, of course, preserved it
from the change into (a) ; (heerd) was then shortened to
(herd), whence the Present English (haaol).
Vowel-change (uw . . o).
1301. shoe, shod (Juw, Jod). OE scotan, scode, gescod.
ME shorn, pret. partic. ishod. The MnE shortening is
parallel to that in rod compared with rood, both=OE rod.
shod is now used chiefly as an adjective, shoe being conjugated
regularly shoed.
Vowel-change (e . . ou).
1302. sell, sold (sel, sould). OE weak I b s^llan, sealde,
Anglian salde 'give.' ME sellen, sglde, isgld. In OE the
meaning 'sell' was only occasionally implied in the more
general one of ' give/ as in sgllan wi}> weorfre ' give for a
value (price) ' = ' sell/
1303. tell, told (tel, tould). OE weak Ib tgllan, tealde
Anglian talde. ME tellen, tglde.
With t instead of d.
1304. burn, burnt. In OE the intransitive ' burn ' was
expressed by the strong verb III biernan, Late West- Saxon
byrnan, Anglian beornan, pret. bgrn, barn, pret. plur. burnon,
pret. partic. geburnen', the transitive by the weak bcernan^
bcernde. In these two verbs the r had been transposed, the
Germanic forms being *brinnan, *brannjan, with which com-
pare the Scandinavian strong brinna, pret. brann, pret. partic.
brunninn, and the weak brgnna, brgndi. In ME the origin-
ally transitive and intransitive forms came to be used indis-
criminately in both senses, the weak forms gradually getting
the upper hand. In Standard ME the Northern — originally
§ i3i i.] VERBS ; IRREGULAR. 397
Scandinavian — form brennen, brente was used both transitively
and intransitively, the strong Northern form — also originally
Scandinavian — brinnen occurring less frequently, generally in
its original intransitive sense. The other dialects show a
great variety of forms : Early Southern beornen, bjrnen, ber-
nen, Early Midland bgrnen, bernen, brennen, Early Northern
brin (transitive as well as intrans.), bren. The infin. burnen
seems to occur first in Late Midland ; the u is either taken
from the old pret. partic. or is more probably the result of
the influence of the lip-consonant b on the following eo of
Anglian beornan. The pret. brent survived for some time in
Early MnE.
1305. dwell, dwelt. ME dwellen, dwelte from Scandina-
vian dvglja ' remain,' not from OE dwgh'an, which had the
meaning ' lead astray.'
1306. learn, learnt. OE leornian, leornode ; ME !ern(i)en,
lernde, later lernte. The adjective learned preserves the fuller
form of the pret. partic.
1307. pen, pent. OE pgnnan, pgnde ' impound ' ; ME
pennen, pende, pente.
1308. smell, smelt. OE smgllan ' strike.'
1309. spell, spelt. OE spellian, spellode 'relate' [spell
neut. ' tidings ']. ME spelh'en ( spell.'
1310. spill, spilt. OE spildan, spillan, pret. spilde
1 destroy.'
1311. spoil, spoilt. ME spoilen, despoilen from Old
French spolier, despoilkr [from Latin spoliare 'strip,' 'plunder']
was associated with spillen from OE spillan, so that when
spillen took the special sense ' waste liquids/ ' spill,' spoilen
took the old meaning of spillen^ namely ' destroy,' and formed
a pret. spoilte on the analogy of spilte. spoil in the sense of
' plunder ' is regular.
398 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1312.
With t instead of d and Vowel-change.
Vowel-change (ij . . e).
1312. (be)reave, *bereft, bereaved. OE (be}reafian,
reafode. ME birjven, birgvde, birefte, birafte, the last being
the Standard ME form.
1313. cleave, cleft 'divide/ 'adhere.' OE strong VII
cleofan^ deaf, clofen ' divide ' ; ME eleven, clgf, clpven. OE
weak III cleofian, clifian ' adhere ' ; ME cljvien, cljvede.
There was also a strong verb VI in OE cUfan ' adhere/ ME
cllven pret. partic. cliven ' adhere/ ' climb/ In ME clgf,
Northern daf, originally pret. of cliven, was used also as pret.
of eleven, whose pret. partic. clgven had in Late ME the same
vowel as clgf. A new weak pret. clefte was then formed from
eleven. In the Earliest MnE cleeve 'divide' kept (ii) = ME
close <?, but was soon confused with cleave (k\eev) ' adhere ' =
Early ME clevien, Late ME clevien, so that it was written
with ea. The MnE pret. clove may be regarded either as
the descendant of the OE pret. cldf or as the ME pret.
ciy (from OE c/eaf) levelled under the pret. partic. clgven.
The other MnE pret. clave is of course the Northern form of
OE claf. The following are the forms of the two verbs in
MnE:—
cleave ' divide ' ; dove, ^clave, cleft ; cloven, cleft, ^cleaved.
cleave ' adhere ' ; ^clave, cleaved ; cleaved.
The latter is now obsolete in the spoken language;
and the other cleave is not much used except in some special
technical expressions, cloven survives only as an adjective,
as in cloven foot.
1314. deal, dealt (dijl, delt). OE dcelan, dtilde.
1315. dream, dreamt, dreamed (drijm, dremt, drijmd).
OE druman, Anglian dreman ' modulate ' [dream ' melody/
1 joy ']. The ME drgmen, dremde, drem(f]te got the meaning
' dream ' from the Scandinavian drqyma ' dream ' [Scandina-
§ 1322.] VERBS; IRREGULAR. 399
vian noun drgumr ' dream ']. In Early MnE the verb was
levelled under the noun dream, the ME pret. being however
kept in spelling — dremt — as well as pronunciation by the side
of the new pret. dreamed. The spelling dreamt is, of course,
a blending of dremt and dreamed.
1316. feel, felt. OEfelan (fcelan)felde.
1317. lean, leant, leaned (lijn, lent, lijnd). OE hleonian
(hlim'an\ hleonode\ ME Ifnien (/mien), Ignede. The pret.
leant comes from another OE verb meaning ' to lean/ namely
hlcenan, hlande ; ME Ijnen, lende, lente.
1318. kneel, knelt. ME knelen, knelde, knelte of Scandi-
navian origin.
1319. leave, left. OE lafan, Idfde. ME Ijven, lefte,
lafte.
1320. mean, meant (mijn, ment). OE mcenan, mcende
' mean/ ' complain.' ME mgnen, mende, mente.
Vowel-change (ai . . o).
1321. buy, bought (bai, bat). OE bycgan, bohte. ME
buggen, biggen, btien, blen (1293), pret. bohte, bouhte.
Vowel-change (uw . . o).
1322. lose, lost. OE strong VII forleosan, forleas,
forloren ' destroy/ ' lose/ weak III losian ' go to waste/ ' get
lost/ ME lesen, forlesen ' lose/ Ijs, forljs, loren, forloren.
The dropping of the for- is due to the influence of losien—
OIL tost'aft, whose transitive use, as in he losede al fa'sfok-'he
lost all his people (army) ' is due to the influence of forlesen.
Hence the pret. partic. Hosed, later lost, came to be used as
the pret. partic. of lesen, when the old pret. participles loren,
forloren had come to be isolated from their verbs in meaning
— MnE *lorn in love-lorn^ etc., forlorn, which are now used
only as adjectives. In Early MnE Use took (uu) from the
adjective loose and verb loosen [MElds,/ostien from Scandinavian
400 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1323.
Iguss 'free/ Moose/ Igusna 'get loose'], being at first written
loose, then lose, to distinguish it from the adjective loose.
With t instead of -ded.
1323. gird, girt, girded. OE gyrdan, gyrde.
1324. build, built, tbuilded. OE bylden, bylde.
1325. gild, gilt, gilded. OE gyldan, gylde.
1326. bend, bent, fbended. OE bgndan 'bind/ 'bend'
[bmdan, pret. band ' bind ']. The pret. bended is now used
only as an adjective in bended knee.
1327. blend, tblent, blended. OE strong I blandan
' mix/ Weak OE blgndan has only the meaning * blind.'
1328. lend, lent. OE Ionian, lande. ME Ignden, lenden
is a new-formation from the OE preterite -forms, possibly
with influence of senden 'send'; from lenden a new pret.
lende, hnte was formed on the analogy of senden, senfe, etc.
1329. rend, rent. OE rgndan (hrgndari), rgnde.
1330. send, sent. OE sgndan, sgnde.
1331. tshend, tshent. OE scgndan, scgnde 'put to
shame ' [stand disgrace].
1332. spend, spent. OE spgndan, spende from Latin
expendere.
1333. *wend, went. OE wgndan 'turn' trans, \windan
strong III ' turn ' intrans.] The pret. went is now used only
as the pret. of go (1458).
With Consonant-loss.
1334. make, made. OE maa'an, macode. ME makien,
makede, tmaked, Late ME makt'en, contracted made, (z)mad.
With Consonant-loss and Vowel-change.
Vowel-change (ou . . se).
1335. clothe, clad, clothed. OE clafian, clapode {clap
' cloth ']. Scandinavian klcefra, kl&frdi, whence ME clgfren,
cladde Northern chdde, as well as cljj>(t)en, clofiede.
§ 1339-1 VERBS; IRREGULAR. 40 1
Vowel-change (se . . o).
1336. catch ; caught. ME cacchen, caughte from Old
French cachier [Low Latin captidre — Latin capture, a
frequentative of capere ' seize'], cachier is probably a North-
East French (Picard) form ; the Parisian form being chacier
(Modern French chasser), whence the MnE chace, chase. ME
cacchen having the same meaning and the same termination
as lacchen, laughte from OE l&ccan, gelcehte ' seize/ ' catch '
[compare MnE latcH\, naturally formed its preterite in the
same way.
1337. distract ; tdistraught, distracted. OE strgccan
' stretch,' pret. streahte, strghte, appears in ME in the form of
strecchen, straughte, streighte^ the pret. partic. streight being
still kept in MnE as an adjective — straight literally ' stretched
out/ In Late ME the Latin distractus was imported as an adj.
distract (French distrait), which was made into distraught by
the influence of straught. When distract was made into a
verb in Early MnE, distraught was naturally regarded as its
participle. Through further confusion straught itself was
used in the sense of ' distracted/ and a new partic. \bestraught
was formed on the analogy of beset.
Vowel-change (93 . . o).
1338. work; *wrought, worked (waak, rot). OE
tvyrcan, Anglian wircan, the corresponding noun being
weorc, Late West-Saxon wore, Anglian were, which in ME
influenced the verb. The ME forms are : Southern wUrchen,
worchen with the usual change of wii- to wu-, Midland werken,
Northern wirk. The OE pret. worhte underwent the usual
r-transposition in ME, becoming- wrohte, MnE wrought,
which in ordinary speech survives only as an adjective, as in
wrought iron.
Vowel-change (i . . o).
1339. bring ; brought (brirj, brot). OE bringan, brohte.
VOL. i. D d
402 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1340.
1340. think ; thought. In OE there were two weak la
verbs of allied form and meaning : pgncan, pohte ' think ' ;
pyncan, puhte ' seem/ which was impersonal, me pyncp ' it
seems to me ' having much the same meaning as ic pgnce.
In ME pgncan became regularly penchen in South-Thames
English, penken in North-Thames English ; andfiyncan became
piinchen, pinchen in South-Thames English, pinken in North-
Thames English. The pret. puhte was soon disused, po(u)hte
taking its place : he poh/e ' he thought/ him pohte ' it seemed
to him.' In Standard ME the two verbs were still kept
apart in the infin. and present tenses, which had the Midland
forms penken, z penke ; pinken, me pinkep, etc. ; but in the
compound bipinken s consider '=OE bepgncan, the latter had
already begun to encroach. In Northern pink completely
supplanted penk, as in MnE. Hence MnE think is histor-
ically = QTL pyncan, and its pret. thought =z OE pohte, the pret.
of the lost pgncan.
Vowel-change (ij . . o).
1341. seek; sought: beseech; besought. OE sedan
(scecan\ sohte. ME South-Thames sechen, bisechen, North-
Thames seken, biseken. The MnE seek and beseech are there-
fore from different dialects of ME. Shakespere has the
Midland form not only in seek, but also in beseek.
1342. reach; fraught, reached. OE rdecan, rdhte.
ME rjchen, ra(u]ghte, Northern reghte.
1343. teach; taught. OE tacan, tahte 'show.' ME
tjchen, ta(u)ghte, which gradually supplanted Ijren ' teach '=
OE Idran.
INVARIABLE VERBS.
(aa).
1344. cast. ME casten from Scandinavian weak kasta,
kastapi. In Early MnE there is also a regular pret. casted.
5'353J VERBS; IRREGULAR. 403
(ai).
1345. *dight ' adorn ' as in storied window richly dight
(Milton). OE dihtan i arrange,' ' appoint ' from the Latin
dictdre.
1346. cut. ME
1347. shut. OE scyttan 'lock/ 'bolt* \gescot 'shot/
'dart'; sceotan strong VII 'shoot']. ME schutten, schutten.
1348. thrust. ME priisten, prusten from Scandinavian
firysfa.
(e).
1349. let. OE strong I Wan, let, Idten. ME leten, pret.
strong let, and weak kite from *lette. In MnE the short vowel
of this weak pret. was extended to the infin., etc. The
obsolete verb let ' hinder,' still preserved in the phrase let or
hindrance, is the OE weak Igttan, Igtte, connected with fat
' slow,' late adv. ' late/
1350. set. OE sgttan, sgtte, connected with the strong
verb V sittan, pret. scet.
1351. shed. OE strong I scadan, sceadan, seed ' separate,'
a meaning still preserved in the noun watershed. ME
schgden formed a weak pret. schadde, schedde, and developed
the new meaning ' separate into drops/ ' shed.' In MnE
the short vowel of the pret. was extended to the pres., etc.,
as in let.
1352. shred. OE screadian, screadode. ME schrjden,
schredde, the short vowel being afterwards extended to the
pres., etc.
1353. spread. OE sprcedan, spradde. ME sprjden,
spradde, spredde, the short vowel of the pret. being afterwards
extended to the other parts of the verb.
D d 2
4°4 ACCIDENCE. [5 1354.
(98).
1354. burst. OE strong III berstan, beer si, burs ton,
geborsten. In this verb the r is transposed, having its
original position in the Scandinavian forms bresta, brast,
brustum, brostinn. The Scandinavian verb influenced the
ME forms : beorsten, bursten, bresten, brusten ; pret. barst,
brast; pret. partic. borsten, bursten, brosten, brusten. The
Standard ME forms are bresten, brast, brosten. The u of
the infin. bursten is the result of the influence of the lip-
consonant b on the earlier eo, as in burn (1304), the u being
afterwards extended to the pret. partic. The strong pret.
partic. bursten survived in Early MnE.
1355. hurt. ME hurten, hurten.
(i).
1356. hit. ME kitten from Scandinavian hitta 'find.'
1357. knit. OE cnyttan 'tie' \cnotta 'knot']. The
invariable pret.- form is now preserved only as an adjective
in well-knit, etc. Otherwise the pret.-form is regular —
knifed.
1358. quit. ME quiten pret. quitte from Old French
quiter from Latin qvietus. In MnE the shortened vowel of
the pret. was extended to the rest of the verb. The deriva-
tive requite keeps its original length, having a pret. partic.
requit in Early MnE. acquit is invariable in Early MnE.
All these verbs are now regular.
1359. rid. ME redden, rildden, ridden ' rescue,' ' separate
fighters' is apparently a blending of OE hrgddan 'rescue'
and Scandinavian rypja pret. rudda ' clear away.'
1360. slit. OE strong VI slitan, slat, sliten. ME has
both strong sliten, pret. partic. sliten, and a weak verb slitien,
which may have existed in OE.
1361. split. ME splatten, of which Early MnE splette is
probably a Northern form, splet seems to have been made
into split by the influence of slit.
§1368.] VERBS ; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC). 405
(O).
1362. cost. ME costen from Old French coster (Modern
French codler) from Latin comtare.
(u).
1363. put. WEputten.
VOCALIC VERBS.
Vowel-change (ai . , au).
1364. bind ; bound. OE strong III Undan, land, bunden.
The older pret. partic. is still preserved in bounden duty.
1365. find; found. OE strong III findan,fand — more
generally w&kjbnde—ftnden. ME pret./pnd,founde.
1366. grind; ground. OE strong III grindan, grand,
grunden.
1367. wind; wound. OE strong III windan, wand,
wunden. The verb wind in to wind a horn was formed
direct from the noun wind, and was conjugated weak — pret.
winded — in Early MnE. The noun wind had the same
sound as the verb wind in Early MnE — (wsind); so that
when the noun came to be pronounced (wind), as it is in
Present English, the verb wind ' blow/ which kept the older
pronunciation, was isolated from the noun wind and asso-
ciated with the old strong verb wind, and took a strong pre-
terite-form wound — he wound the horn.
Vowel-change (ai . . *B).
1368. strike ; struck. OE strong VI strican, strac, stricen
' move about/ * touch lightly.' ME striken, strok (Northern
strati), striken. Early MnE strike, pret. stroke, strake, struck,
pret. partic. stricken, strucken, struck.
406 ACCIDENCE. [§1369.
Vowel-change (ae . . /B).
1369. hang; hung, hanged. OE strong I hon (from
earlier *hohan\ heng, hangen, the g being a weakening of
the h of the infin., where o= Germanic an (1206), so that
hon=. Germanic *hankan. There was also a weak intransitive
hangian, hangode, hon itself being used transitively. In Early
ME the consonantal variation in the strong verb was soon
levelled : sometimes the infinitive form was extended to the
pret. partic. which was made into (a)hon ; but afterwards the
ng-forms got the upper hand, being supported- by the weak
verb hangien, and a new strong infin. hangen was formed,
pret. hengt pret. partic. hangen. In some dialects the pret.
was shortened to heng with short close (e), which being an
unfamiliar sound in ME was made into i. This new pret.
king, which is frequent in some Midland dialects, was made
into an infin. in Northern by the analogy of the bind-class,
with pret. hang, which afterwards made its way into the
Standard dialect in the form of hgng parallel to sgng ' sang/
A pret. partic. hung was further developed on the analogy of
sing, sang, sung, and hung was then extended to the pret.
sing, in the same way as clung, etc. (1269), the older infin.
hang being preserved in the Standard dialect. In MnE the
strong form hung is both transitive and intransitive, hanged
being used only transitively, contrary to the OE usage.
Vowel-change (i . . «).
1370. dig ; dug, tdigged. ME diggen, dfggede, equiva-
lent to OE dician \dlc ( ditch '], of which it seems to be a
modification by some analogical influence. The vocalic
pret. dug developed itself towards the end of the Early MnE
period ; it is not found in the Bible.
1371. cling ; clung. OE strong III ch'ngan, clang,
clungen 'wither/ ME clingen, clgng, clungen 'shrivel/
* adhere/ ' hang/
§1382.] VERBS; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC). 407
1372. fling; flung. ME strong III flingen from weak
Scandinavian flgngja [compare ME wing from Scandinavian
vgngr]. flingen was, of course, made strong on the analogy
of sting and the other strong verbs in -ing.
1373. sling; slung. ME strong III slingen from
Scandinavian slongva, which passed through slengen into
slingen, and then became strong in the same way as fling.
The pret. slang occurs in the Bible.
1374. slink ; slunk. OE strong III slincan.
1375. spin ; spun. OE strong III spinnan. The pret.
span is now obsolete.
1376. stick ; stuck, tsticked ' pierce,' ' adhere.' OE
stician (stiociari), sticode ' pierce,' ' adhere.' ME strong V
steken, stak, steken and stoken [like spoken = GE specen\
' pierce/ ' imprison/ which may represent an OE strong
verb, stuck may owe its u to the influence of stung,
1377. sting ; stung. OE strong III stingan.
1378. string ; strung, stringed. This verb is a MnE
formation from the ME noun string from Scandinavian
strgngr, with the usual change of Scandinavian -gng into
-ing. We keep the older consonantal inflexion in s fringed
instruments.
1379. swing ; swung. OE strong III swingan.
1380. win ; won. OE strong III winnan ' make war/
gewinnan ' conquer/ ' gain/
1381. wring ; wrung. OE strong III wringan.
Vowel-change (e . . 8B . . 12).
1382. run; ran; run. OE strong III zrnan, iernan
(eornan), Late West- Saxon yrnan, pret. grn, arn, pret. partic.
urnen, with the same transposition of the r as in burn, the older
forms being preserved in gerinnan ' coagulate/ literally ' run
together/ gerann, gerunnen. The ME verb was influenced
by the two Scandinavian verbs, the strong- rinna, ra?m,
runninn and the weak rgnna, rgndi, the Standard ME forms
408 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1383.
being indeed entirely Scandinavian : rennen, ran, irunnen.
The Early Southern forms of the infin. are irnen, eornen,
urnen probably =urnen from Late West-Saxon yrnan. The
infin. run appears in Northern by the side of the Scandi-
navian rin. As there is no reason why the regular rin, ran,
run should have been disturbed by the extension of the pret.
partic. form to the infin., etc. against the analogy of win, etc.,
it seems most probable that the u of the infin. was originally
a Southern development out of urnen, perhaps by the influ-
ence of burn.
Vowel-change (i . . &).
1383. sit; sat. OE strong V j-verb sittan, sat, seten.
ME sitten, sat, seten and also siten with the vowel of the
infin. From the ME partic. siten is derived the obsolete
MnE pret. and pret. partic. sit, which made the verb invari-
able. The obsolete MnE pret. sate is due to the analogy of
came, spake, etc., the short sal being kept up at the same time
by the short vowel of the infin. sit.
1384. spit ; spat. There were in OE two weak verbs of
the same meaning spittan, spitte and spatan, spcette, both of
which were kept in ME, where the pret. spcette became regu-
larly spatte. The MnE spit, spat is, therefore, a mixture of
two distinct verbs.
Vowel-change (i . . se . . *B).
1385. begin; began; begun. OE strong III beginnan,
onginnan, later aginnan. The MnE shortened 'gin appears
early in ME ; the coexistence of risen and arisen no doubt
led to the shortening of aginnen into ginnen.
1386. drink; drank; drunk. OE strong III drincan.
The OE pret. partic. drunken, ME dronken survives in the ad-
jective drunken, the shortened form drunk being also used as
an adjective. In MnE the use of drank as a partic. — as also
of began, etc. — was formerly more frequent ; but the partic.
§ 1394-1 VERBS; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC). 409
drank is still frequently used, apparently in order to avoid the
form drunk, which suggests drunken.
1387. ring; rang; rung. OE (fi)ringan is apparently
weak.
1388. shrink ; shrank ; shrunk. OE strong III serin-
can.
1389. sing; sang; sung. OE strong III singan.
1390. sink ; sank ; sunk. OE strong III sincan. The
full pret. partic. is still preserved as an adjective, as in sunken
rock.
1391. spring ; sprang ; sprung. OE strong III springan.
1392. stink; stank; stunk. OE strong III stincan
'rise' (said of dust, vapour, etc.), ' have a good or bad odour,'
as in wel-stincende c fragrant/
1393. swim ; swam ; swum. OE strong III swimman.
Vowel-change (i . . se . . i-n).
1394. (for)bid ; -bad ; -bidden. OE strong V j-verb
biddan, bad, beden ' pray,' ' ask ' ; strong VII beodan, bead,
boden ' offer,' * command.' The corresponding ME forms
are bidden, bad, bjden and — by the analogy of the infin. —
bidden ; beden, bjd, bgden. But already in Early ME the two
verbs began to be confused, bidden in the special sense of
' ask to one's house,' ' invite ' soon got confused with beden,
which developed the meaning ' offer an invitation/ the con-
fusion being aided by the weak verb bgd(i)en=QTL bodian
' announce ' — itself connected with beodan. Hence even in
Early ME we find iboden used in the sense of 'invited.' It was
still more natural to soften down the command expressed by
beden by the substitution of the milder bidden. The pret.
bad soon supplanted bjd by taking to itself the meaning
'commanded,' except in the emphatic forbeden, which in
Standard ME only rarely has the pret. forbad instead of
forbgd. The following are the Standard ME forms —
410 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1395.
bidden, beden; bad ; bjden, bjjden.
forbeden ; forbjd (forbad] ; forbgden.
In the transition to MnE the bid- forms were gradually extended
till they entirely supplanted the others. The relation between
the two forms bad and bade is the same as that between sat
and sale (1266). In Early MnE the pret. partic. was often
shortened to bid, which was used also as a pret., so that the
verb became invariable. The simple bid is now obsolete in
the spoken language, its place being taken by tell.
Vowel-change (ij . . e).
1395. bleed; bled. OE weak bledan (blcedan), bledde.
\bldd < blood'].
1396. breed ; bred. OE weak bredan (brcedan), bredde.
\brdd ' brood '].
1397.. feed; fed. OE weak/edan (fcedan),fedde. [foda
'food'].
1398. lead; led. OE weak l&dan, ladde.
1399. meet; met. OE weak metan (mcetari) melte.
\gemdt ' meeting '].
1400. read ; read (rijd ; red). OE weak radan, radde.
140L speed ; sped. OE weak .spedan (spcedari), spedde.
Many verbs analogous to the above now follow the regular
conjugation, such &s> greet, seem = QE. gretan, grette, etc.
Vowel-change (ij . . e . . ij-n).
1402. eat ; ate ; eaten. OE strong V, with exceptional
(Germanic) lengthening in the pret. sing., etan, &t, pret. plur.
aton, pret. partic. eten. ME jten, et, at, jten, the pret. at
being of course due to the influence of the other verbs of
the same class.
Vowel-change (ou . . e).
1403. hold; held. OE strong I healdan, haldan-, heold;
§ 1408.] VERBS; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC). 411
gehealden, gehalden ME hglden', held, held, hild; ihglden. We
still preserve the fuller form of the pret. partic. in beholden.
Vowel-change (o . . e . . o-n).
1404. fall ; fell ; fallen. OE strong I feallan, fallan ;
feoll', feallen, fallen. ME fallen ; fel,fel, fil ; fallen.
Vowel-change (ai . . ei . . ei-n).
1405. lie ; lay ; lain. OE strong V j-verb licgan, Iceg,
gelegen, imper. sing, Itge, etc. The ME development of this
verb is analogous to that of the other eg- verbs (1293). In
Early Southern the infin. liggen was preserved by the side of
the imper. lie; but in the North-Thames dialects it was
levelled under the g-forms, becoming fin, lien. The Standard
ME forms are Ren, lai, pret. partic. leien, lein. In vulgar
MnE the preterite-forms have led to the complete levelling
of this verb under the transitive lay, and this change is
making its way into educated speech.
Vowel-change (e.. . ei . . B).
1406. come ; came ; come. OE strong IV, with anom-
alous weak vowel in the pres. and infin. and exceptional
extension of the vowel of the pret. plur. to the pret. sing. :
cuman ; cwom, com ; c(iu]omon ; cumen. The pret. com was
preserved in Standard ME, but was partially supplanted by
the new formation cam on the analogy of the strong verb IV
nimen ' take,' nam, nomen. cam underwent the usual length-
ening into came in MnE.
Vowel-change (i . . ei . . i-n).
1407. give; gave; given. OE giefan, gyfan, gefan,
geofan ; geaf, ga>f\ giefen, gyfen, gefen.
, Vowel-change (ai . . i).
1408. light ; lit, lighted. OE weak lihtan, lihte « illu-
minate ' and ' make light/ « alleviate ' \leohl adj. ' light of
412 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1409.
colour' and ' light of weight ']. There was a third OE weak
verb Ithfan, alihtan * alight from a horse.' The MnE verb
light in light on must be referred to this last. The conson-
antal preterite-form lit does not, of course, appear till light
had become (bit), that is, in the MnE period, when it arose
from imitation of bite, bit, etc. The verb alight still keeps
the older consonantal inflexion, which is also used in the
other verbs.
Vowel-change (ai . . i . . i-n).
1409. bite; bit; bitten. OE strong VI bifan. The
shortened pret. partic. is still kept in the phrase the biter bit.
1410. chide; chid; chidden. OE weak cidan, cidde.
ME chlden, chidde. In Early MnE the verb was made strong
— chide, chode, chidden — on the analogy of ride, rode, ridden.
The pret. partic. was then shortened to chid, and extended to
the pret. The verb is nearly obsolete in the present spoken
English.
1411. hide, hid, hidden is a strong verb of similar recent
formation, except that it does not seem to have developed
any pcet. analogous to Early MnE chode : OE hydan, hydde,
ME hiden, hidde.
Vowel-change (ij . . ij . . ij-n).
1412. beat; beat; beaten. OE strong I beatan, beot,
beaten.
Vowel-change (ai . . o).
1413. shine ; shone. OE strong VI sc'inan, scan, semen.
Vowel-change (e . . o . . o-n).
1414. (for)get; forgot; forgotten, got. In OE the
strong V verb gietan, gytan, getan ; geat, gcct', gielen, gyten,
geten occurs only in the compounds begietan 'get,' ongietan
' understand,' forgietan ' forget ' and a few others. In ME
§ i42o.] VERBS; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC^ 413
begiten, begeten was shortened to giten, geten through the in-
fluence of the Scandinavian geta, gat, getinn ' get/ or rather
the Scandinavian word was substituted for it.
1415. tread; trod; trodden. OE strong V. tredan,
treed, treden. ME trgden, trad, trgden and — by the analogy
of broken, etc. — tryden, troden.
Vowel-change (ij . . o . . o-n).
1416. seethe; tsod, seethed; sodden, tsod, seethed.
OE strong VII seopan, sea}>, soden. sodden is now used as an
adjective, which has been made into a verb with a pret. partic.
soddened, which is extensively used instead of sodden.
Vowel-change (uw . . o).
1417. shoot ; shot. OE strong VII sceotan, sceat, scoten.
Standard ME scheten, schjt, schoten. There is also an infin.
schuten in ME, whose u probably =# from OE eo, as in choose
(1437), which afterwards became (uu) and was written oo in
Early MnE.
Vowel-change (ai . . ou).
1418. climb ; t clomb, climbed. OE strong III dim-
man, clamm, clummen and also dimban, damb, dumben,
although the latter is found only in late texts. ME climmen,
clam, clommen and cllmben, djjmb (clamb\ domben.
Vowel-change (ai . . ou . . i-n).
1419. (a)bide ; fbode, tbid, bided; tbiden, tbid,
bided. OE strong VI bidan ( wait/ dbictan ' endure.' ME
(d]biden, bgd, biden, there being also a weak pret. abidde.
1420. drive; drove, tdrave; driven. OE strong VI
dr'ifan. Like the other verbs of this series drive had in MnE
a curtailed pret. partic. (driv), which was extended to the pret.
It was not much used in writing because, being necessarily
written drive, it was liable to be confounded with the pres.
4H ACCIDENCE. [§ 1421.
1421. ride; rode, trid; ridden, trid. OE strong VI
ridan.
1422. (a)rise ; rose ; risen. OE strong VI (a)rlsan.
The MnE preterite-form (riz) was not much used in writing
because there was no convenient way of expressing its
sound.
1423. shrive; t shrove, shrived; shriven. OE strong
VI scrlfan ' decree/
1424. smite; smote; smitten. OE strong VI smitan
( smear.'
1425. stride; strode; t stridden, strode. OE stridan.
1426. strive ; strove ; striven. ME strong VI striven,
slrgf, striven, which is the Old French estriver [from Old
Low- German strip ' strife '] made into a strong verb on the
analogy of driven.
1427. thrive ; throve ; thriven. ME Driven from the
Scandinavian strong reflexive verb prifask.
1428. write; wrote, twrit; written, fwrit. OE strong
VI writ an.
Vowel-change (ei . . ou).
1429. wake ; woke, waked. OE strong II wacan, woe,
wacen, generally compounded with on onwacan, awacan.
(on)wacan and the weak a(w<zcniari), wacian ' keep awake '
are intransitive. The corresponding transitive verb is
w/ccan, weahte, wghte. ME has (a)waken, wok, waken and
wakt'en, wakede; wakenen, wak(e]nede. The (ou) instead of
(uw) in the MnE woke is probably due to the influence of the
numerous preterites of the shine-class — rose, etc.
1430. stave ; stove, staved. This verb was first formed
in MnE from the noun stave ' piece of a cask/ itself a late
formation from staves, plur. of staff. Its vocalic inflexion is
of course the result of analogy.
Vowel-change (ei . . ou . . ou-n).
1431. break; broke, tbra&e ; broken, t broke. OE
strong IV brecan, brcec, brocen.
§ 1439-1 VERBS ; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC). 415
Vowel-change (ij . . ou . . ou-n).
1432. freeze; froze; frozen, tfrore OE strong VII
freosan,freas, froren.
1433. heave; hove, heaved; thoven, hove, heaved.
OE strong j-verb II hgbban, hof, ha/en. ME hebben, hgven ;
hof, haf\ hgven, hjven, the last form being due to the in-
fluence of the infin., while haft hgven are due to the influence
of wjven> waf, wpven (1436). There was also a weak ME
pret. hefde, hevede. The MnE hove probably points to a
ME pret. ^^/"with the vowel of the pret. partic.
1434. speak; spoke, t spake; spoken, t spoke. OE
strong V sprecan, sprcec, sprecen. In Late OE this verb began
to drop its r — especially in the Kentish dialect. In ME the
r disappeared entirely, and the pret. partic. took o on the
analogy of broken, etc. : spgken, spak, spjken, spgken.
1435. steal; stole; stolen. OE strong IV stelan, steel,
stolen.
1436. weave; wove, weaved; woven, weaved. OE
strong V wefan> w<zf, wefen. ME wjven, waf, wgven, wgven.
Voivel-change (uw . . ou . . ou-n).
1437. choose ; chose ; chosen. OE strong VII ceosan,
ceas, coren. ME chesen, chjs, chosen. There was also a West-
Midland infin. chiisen with the regular West-Midland change
of OE eo into ti. In Early MnE (tjiuz) became (t/uuz),
which was written phonetically choose, although the older
spelling chuse survived till the end of the last century, chese
also occurs in Early MnE.
Vowel-change (ai . . o).
1438. fight ; fought. OE strong III feohtan (f eh fan) ;
feaht (faht) ; fohten. ME fighten, f aught, foughten. In the
pret. Early MnE fluctuates between au and ou.
Vowel-change (ea . . o . . o-n).
1439. bear; bore, tbare; born(e). OE strong IV
4l6~ ACCIDENCE. [§ 1440.
beran, bar, boren. MnE makes a distinction between born in
the sense of French n'e and 6orne=l carried' which did not
exist in OE or ME.
1440. swear; swore, tsware ; sworn. OE strong j-
verb II swgrian, swor, swaren, sworen, the o of the last form
being due to the influence of the preceding w. ME swerien,
swjren ; swdr, swar ; swyren. swdr is, of course, due to the
analogy of bgren, bar.
1441. tear; tore, ttare; torn. OE strong IV teran.
1442. wear; wore, tware; worn. OE weak w$rian,
wgrede 'wear clothes/ The vocalic forms were first developed
in Early MnE by the analogy of bear.
Voivel-change (ei . . o).
1443. freight; * fraught, freighted. The Late ME
weak verb fraughten [imported from Dutch?] was made into
freight in Early MnE by the influence of the synonymous
fret, and fraught itself came to be regarded as the pret. of
this new verb freight by a vague association with work,
wrought, etc. But fraught was still used as a pres. in Early
MnE : the good ship . . . and the fraughting souls within her
(Shakespere).
Vowel-change (ia . . o . . o-n).
1444. shear; t shore, t share, sheared; shorn,
t sheared. OE strong IV scieran (seer an); scear (scar);
scoren.
Vowel-change (ij . . o . . ij-n).
1445. see ; saw ; seon. OE strong V seon ; seah (sati) ;
sdwon (segon)', seiven (segen). In Late Northumbrian the
adjective gesene= West-Saxon gesune 'visible' was used as the
pret. partic. Early ME seon, sen-, seih (Southern), sah,
sauh pret. plur. sgwen, seien ; pret. partic. seien, sem. In Late
ME the pret. sing, forms dropped the h by the influence of
the pret. plur. and pret. partic., giving sei, sat and saw, the
last being the usual North-Thames form, especially in
§ i45i.] VERBS; IRREGULAR (VOCALIC). 417
Northumbrian, which also kept the Old- Northumbrian pret.
partic. in the form of sen. The Standard ME inflections
are se(n) ; seigh, sat] (t)sein. In MnE the Northern pret.
saw and pret. partic. seen were introduced into the Standard
dialect.
Vowel-change (se . . . u).
1446. stand; stood. OE strong II with n inserted in
the pres. etc. : standan, stod, standen.
Vowel-change (ei . . . u . . . ei-n).
1447. forsake ; forsook ; forsaken. OE strong II
forsacan ' renounce,' ' deny/
1448. shake ; shook ; shaken. OE strong II scacan.
1449. take ; took ; taken, *ta'en. ME strong II taken,
tok, taken from Scandinavian taka, tok, tgkinn. In Northern
this verb was contracted like make, and the pret. partic. tden
passed into Standard MnE.
Vowel-change (ai . . . uw . . . ou-n).
1450. fly; flew; flown. OE strong \\\fleogan (flegan,
fllgari) ; fleag, fleah (fleh) ; flugon ; flogen. ME flen, fl'ien ;
fleigh, fley — with the same dropping of final h as in sez'= OE
ges(Eh—fly\ pret. \A\tf. flowen,ftgwen (influence of pret. partic.);
pret. partic. flywen. The Early MnE pret.faw (fliu) probably
arose in the same way as drew, etc. (1277).
Vowel-change (ei . . . uw . . . ei-n).
1451. slay; slew; slain. OE strong II slean (from
sleahan) ; slog, sloh • slagen, slcegen, slggen. ME Southern
sign, Midland sign, Northern sld ; sloh, Late ME slough, slow
=^(sluu) ; pret. partic. slawen, sleien, slain. In MnE, the ai of
the pret. partic. was extended to the infin., and the ow of the
pret. underwent the usual analogical change into ew. The
VOL. i. EC
41 8 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1452.
archaic forms slee = ska, pret. slue still lingered in Early
MnE.
Vowel-change (ou . . . uw . . . ou-n).
1452. blow ; blew ; blown, blowed. OE strong I
bldwan ' blow ' (of wind), bleoiv, lldwen and bloivan ' bloom/
bleoiv, blowen. ME blgwen, blew, blgwen and blowen, bllw,
blowen.
1453. crow; crew, crowed; t crown, crowed. OE
strong I crdwan, creow, crdwen.
1454. grow ; grew ; grown. OE strong I growan,
greow, grow en.
1455. know; knew; known. OE strong I cnaivan^
cneow, cndwen.
Vowcf-change (o . . . uw . . . o-n).
1456. draw; drew; drawn. OE strong II dragan-,
drog, droh\ dragen.
MIXED VERBS.
1457. There are several verbs which have a strong pret.
partic. in -en with a regular consonantal pret. Some of
these are old strong verbs which have become partially
consonantal ; but others are weak verbs which have taken
the partic. ending -en by the influence of old strong verbs
which they happen to resemble. In the following list the
latter class are marked J.
1458. go; went; gone. OE strong I gdn, gangan]
geong, eode (weak) ; gegan, gegangen. ME gg(n\ gange(n) ;
ybde, wente ; gg(ri), gangen. In ME the longer form gang
was gradually restricted to the Northern dialect. The cur-
tailed Southern pret. partic. gg is still preserved in the adverb
ago=QiE agan ' passed ' (of time).
1459. grave, graved ; graven, graved. OE strong II
grafan, grof, grafen.
1460. hew; hewed; hewn, hewed. OE strong I heawan,
heow, heawen.
VERBS; MIXED. 419
1461. Hade, load; tladed, loaded; laden, tladed,
tloaden, loaded. OE strong II hladan, Mod, hidden, hidden.
The MnE change of lade into load — the older form being
slill preserved in bill of lading as well as in the pret. partic.
laden — is through the influence of the noun load, ME Igde—
OE lad (fern.) ' leading,' ' way' — a meaning still preserved in
loadstar — connected with Icedan Mead/ which had also the
meaning 'carry,' as it still has in the dialectal expression
lead hay, etc. Thus in ME Igde came to mean ' load,' and
was at last confused with the verb laden.
1462. melt ; melted ; molten, melted. OE strong III
meltan. molten is now used only as an adjective.
1463. mow ; mowed ; mown, mowed. OE strong I
mdwan, meow, mdwen.
1464. rive ; rived ; riven, rived. ME strong VI riven,
rgf, riven from the Scandinavian rifa.
1465. Jsaw ; sawed ; sawn, sawed. ME weak saw(t)en.
MnE sawn by the analogy of drawn.
1466. shape ; shaped ; shapen, shaped. OE strong
II j-verb scieppan, scyppan (scgppan) : scop ; scapen, sccspen.
In ME this verb was influenced — or rather supplanted — by
the Scandinavian verb skapa, skop.
1467. shave ; shaved ; shaven, shaved. OE strong II
scq/an, scof, sea fen.
1468. tshow; showed; shown, showed. OE weak
sceaivian, sceawode ( survey/ 'look at.' ME schjiv(i)en,
schywien, Northern schaw. Early MnE shew and show,
shown by the analogy of known, etc.
1469. sow; sowed; sown, sowed. OE strong I sdwan,
seow, saw en.
1470. Jstrew ; strewed ; strewn, strewed. OE weak
strgwian, streowian. ME strewen, strgwen, strawen. strewn
by the analogy of hewn.
1471. swell; swelled; swollen, swelled. OE strong
III swellan.
E e 2
420 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1472.
ISOLATED FORMS.
1472. Some obsolete verbs occur only in isolated forms,
namely quoth, hight, iclept, wont.
1473. quoth. OE strong V cwefian, cwap, cwddon,
gecweden ' say/ In ME the strong consonant of the infin.
was kept throughout : cwepen, cwaj), icwepen ; so also
bicwefen 'bequeath/ which in MnE is consonantal — be-
queathed. In Late ME the simple cwefien was gradually dis-
used except in the pret. sing. As cwafr was often unstressed
in such combinations as cwa]) 'he, it developed a weak form
cwod, quod through the regular rounding of unstressed a into
o after a lip-consonant, as in OE Oswold= earlier Oswald.
The explanation of the d is that cwaj) he etc. were made into
(kwajree) which became (kwafree, kwofree) ; and when
(kwoS) was detached and received strong stress — as it natu-
rally would — the final (S), being an unfamiliar sound in strong
syllables, was changed into (d). The form quoth is a blend-
ing of strong quath and weak quod, quoth being obsolete is
now generally pronounced artificially (kwouj?) on the analogy
of both ; but the older colloquial pronunciation was (kwBj?) or
(M>).
1474. hight * is named, called/ ' was called/ ME highte
is a blending of the OE passive form hatte (1182) and heht,
the active pret. of the same verb hatan.
1475. iclept=ME icljped, OEgecleopod ' called' the pret.
partic. of the weak verb deopian, clipian.
1476. wont 'accustomed ' = OE gezvunod, pret. partic. of
the weak verb gewunian [gewuna ' custom/ ' habit.'] Being
unfamiliar, this word is now artificially pronounced (wount)
instead of the earlier and correct (wrat).
ANOMALOUS VERBS.
1477. Most of the MnE verbs that we class as anomalous
are old preterite-present verbs. Two of these preterite-
§ I479-] VERBS; ANOMALOUS.
present verbs — dare and owe — OE dearr, ag — have been
made regular in certain meanings. The original inflections of
these verbs have been much curtailed in MnE, most of them
having only the inflections of the finite present and preterite.
The only one which has an infin. is dare, which seems to
have taken it from the regularly inflected verb dare. Two of
the old preterite-present verbs — must and ought — occur now
only in the OE preterite forms, which have taken the place
of the OE present mot and ag, so that these verbs are incap-
able of marking the distinction between pres. and pret.
1478. In the present Spoken English the preterite-present
verbs, together with need and the other anomalous verbs be,
have, do, are the only ones which have the particle not joined
to them directly instead of with the help of an auxiliary verb,
as in I cannot (kaant) compared with I do not see, the not being
shortened to (nt), often with modification of the verb itself.
Most of the anomalous verbs have also very distinct weak
forms, which we will put in ( ).
1479. can, canst; could, couldst. OE cann, canst,
plur. cunnon ; pret. cupe; infin. cunnan ' know.' There is a
weak OE verb cunm'an, cunnode 'try,' which must not be
confounded with cunnan ' know ' ; from this cunnian comes
the MnE con ' peruse/ ' study,' which, being unfamiliar, is
now pronounced artificially (kon) instead of the correct (k^n).
ME can, canst, plur. connen, can ; coupe, coude ; infin. connen.
coude is a weakening of coupe , which probably began like that
of quap into quod (1473), in such combinations as (kuujree,
kuutS-ee) =«?«/* he, the detached (kuutS) being made into
(kuud), which became coude by blending with coupe. The
Late ME participle-adjective conninge seems to have been
introduced from the Northern dialect, where it appears in the
form of cunnand, which is no doubt the Scandinavian adjec-
tive and pres. partic. kunnandt ' knowing/ ' sagacious/ from
kann ' knows/ infin. kunna. The Scandinavian noun formed
from this adj. — kunnandi (fern.) ' knowledge ' — was also in-
422 ACCIDENCE. [§1480.
troduced into MnE, being made into conninge in the Standard
dialect. In the transition to MnE the weak coude entirely
supplanted the strong couthe, and in Early MnE it was made
into could on the analogy of should and would=QE scolde,
wolde. The (uu) of coud, could, was shortened when un-
stressed, which prevented it from being diphthongized like the
(uu) in house ; and the (1) of all three verbs was dropped in
their weak forms, so that could had two forms, the strong
(kuld) and the weak (kud). At the same time the meaning
' knowing ' gradually developed into ' being able/ The
Spoken English forms of this verb, including the weak and
negative forms, are : —
kgen (kan), kaant ; kud (kad), kudnt.
The defective forms of this verb are supplied by be able : can
you do it ? j I shall not be able to do it.
1480. dare, darest, (he) dare, tdares ; durst; infin.
dare. OE dearr, dears t, durron ; dorste ; ME dar, ddr (as
in the pret. bar), darst', dorste, durste with the u of OE
durron ; infin. durren, daren, of which the former represents
the probable OE infin. durran, the latter being a new-forma-
tion from dar. In MnE dare in the transitive sense of
' challenge ' has become quite regular : he dared him to do it.
The intransitive pres. partic. daring is used only as an adjec-
tive. The pret. durst is little used in the spoken language,
where the literary / durst not interrupt him is represented by
/ did not dare to interrupt him. The pres. dare is most fre-
quent in the phrase / dare say—' I think,' * it is probable/
1481. may, mayst; might, mightst. OE mag, f>u
meaht (rncehf), miht, plur. magon ', pret. meahte (?ncehte) mihte
' be able/ [Compare maigen, meaht, miht ' power,' ' force/]
The ME forms seem to have been influenced by another OE
preterite-present verb of similar meaning, namely deag, deah
' avail ' plur. dugon ; pret. dohte ; infin. dugan. The ME
forms are : mat, miht, and, very late, mayst, plur. mawen,
§ 1484.] VERBS; ANOMALOUS. 423
muwen, moun; pret. mahte, mihte, mohte. This last survived
as a vulgarism (moot) to the end of the ifth century. The
meaning of the verb developed in MnE into that of ' have
permission/ The Spoken English forms are : —
mei, meint ; mait, maitnt.
1482. tmote (muut); must. OE mot, most, mo/on;
moste ' may.' ME mot, most, moten] moste. The pres. sur-
vived only as an archaism in Early MnE : as fair as fair
mote be (Spenser). Already in ME the pret. was used in the
sense of the pres., and in Early MnE this usage became
fixed. It began with the use of the pret. subj. — which was
practically indistinguishable from the pret. indie. — to express
mild command, so that/<?# mosfe—' you would be able/ 'you
might ' was understood to mean ' you will have to/ ' you
must.' The vowel of moste passed through (uu) into (u) in
Early MnE, the shortening having probably begun in the
weak form. The Spoken English forms of this verb are : —
mBSt (mast, ni9s), m^snt.
1483. (owe) ; ought. OE ag, dh,J)u aht, aht, plur. agon ;
pret. dhle, ahte ; infin. agan ' possess.' The adjective agen
' own ' is an old pret. partic. of this verb. From agen is
formed the weak verb dgnian, ' appropriate/ ' possess/ In
Early ME ahte developed regularly into a(u}hte, but after-
wards g was introduced from the infin etc.,' giving §(u)hte.
In ME gw en in the sense of ' possess ' soon took regular
weak inflection — Igwe, we gwefi, etc. — still keeping the older
Tiiihte as its pret. The meaning ' possess ' gradually de-
veloped into that of ' have a debt/ ' owe/ which, again, de-
veloped the abstract meaning ' ought/ especially in the pret.,
which by degrees took the function of a pres. in the same
way as must (1482). The Spoken English forms are : —
ot, otnt.
1484. shall, shalt ; should, shouldst. OE steal (sccet),
scealt (sccel/), sculon ; scolde, Northumbrian stalde by the
424 ACCIDENCE. [§1485.
analogy of walde (14t85) = wo!de. ME schal, schalt, schulen,
schullen (by the analogy of wtlleti) ; scholde, schulde (by the
influence of schulen). In Northern, weak sh became s, as
in I nglis— English [compare Scotch Scots from Scottish],
whence the Northern (originally only weak) forms sal, said.
Of the two Early MnE forms of the pret., strong (juld) and
weak (Jud), only the latter has survived. The spoken forms
are: —
Jsel (Jl), Jaant ; Jud (Jad), Judnt.
1485. will, wilt ; would, wouldst ; imper. will. This
verb was in OE originally a strong subjunctive preterite, with
which pres. indie, forms were afterwards mixed : wile, wille,
Witt, willaj>'t wolde, walde (originally weak?); infin. willan.
In OE this verb has, together with several other verbs in very
frequent use, special negative forms, the result of contraction
with a preceding ne ' not ' : it nyle, pu nylt, he nyle, wenyllaj) ;
nolde, etc. One of these negative forms is still preserved in
the phrase willy nilly, Early MnE will he, nill ^<?=OE wile
he, nyle he. The ME forms are : wile, wole, ivilt, wolt, wille}>,
willen, wollen ; ivolde, walde, wolde, whose (u) is the result of
the influence of the pres. forms wole, etc., which were prob-
ably at first weak forms, in which the w rounded the follow-
ing vowel and gradually assimilated it to itself. In Early
MnE (wud) was the weak form of (wuld). The spoken
forms are : —
wil (1), wount ; wud (wad, ad), wudnt.
1486. twot ; twist. OE wat, wast, wit on ; wiste ; wit an ;
witende. The adjective gewiss ' certain ' is an old pret. partic.
of this verb. ME w$t9 wgst, witen ; infin. witen ; pres. partic.
witinge. In Early MnE wot was sometimes made the base
of a regular verb : he wotteth, wofs, pret. wotted, pres. partic.
wotting. The old pres. partic. still survives in the adverb un-
wittingly, and the infin. in the adverb phrase to w;'/=viz.
§ 1488.]
VERBS; ANOMALOUS.
425
The ME adjective zW.r=OE gewiss has in MnE been often
wrongly divided i ivis, as if it were the pronoun / with a verb
equivalent to wot, a view which has been further supported in
recent times by the chance resemblance of the Modern German
equivalent of wot, namely weiss, plur. ivissen.
1487. need. This verb agrees with the preterite-present
verbs in having no ^-inflection and in taking not without any
auxiliary — he need not (nijdnt). The loss of the s — which seems
to have begun in the transition from ME to MnE — is appar-
ently partly the result of similarity of meaning to that of the
preterite-present verbs ; but the absence of the inflectional s
is partly due to the verb need l require ' being formed directly
from the noun need through the ambiguity of such sentences
as Early MnE what need all this waste ? There were two
weak verbs formed from the noun in OE — niedan, nydan
(nedan) and neadian. Both had the meaning ' compel/ which
they kept in Early ME. The later meaning ' require ' was
probably the result of making the noun need in such sentences
as that quoted above into a verb.
We now come to the anomalous auxiliary verbs be, have,
do.
1488. The verb be in OE is made up of three distinct
roots ; that seen in (a) is, are, (&) was, and (c) be : —
Indie.
Pres. Sing. I eom (earn}; beo
2 eart (earj>}j bist
3 is; bip
Plur. sind, sindon (earori); beop
Pret. Sing. I wees
2 iv&re
3 wees
Plur. iv&ron *
Imper. Sing, ives ; beo Infin.
Plur. wesap ; beo])
Subj.
sie, sy j beo
sie, sy ; beo
ste, sy j beo
sten, syn; beon
Partic. Pres.
iv&re
w&re
iv&ren
wesan; beon
Gerund to wesenne ; to
beonne
wesende
426 ACCIDENCE. [§1489.
1489. The ea in eart and the Anglian earn, earon is a
weakening of eo (1068), preserved in the West-Saxon com
and the occasional eort> eorun. In Late Northumbrian this
ea undergoes the usual further weakening into a : am, ar}>,
aron.
1490. The Standard ME forms are : am, art, is, be(n) ;
subj. be, be(n}\ pret. was, wjr(e), was, wjre(n); pret. subj.,
w/r(e), wgre(n)\ imper. be, bej>; infin. be(n)', participles
beinge, be(n). The ME pret. partic. is, of course, an
analogical new-formation. The North-Thames plur. ar(n)
is still rare in Standard ME, but is firmly established in Early
MnE, which inflects: am, art, is, are] subj. be\ pret. was,
wast, wert, plur. were; subj. pret. were, wert> were; infin. be;
partic. being i been. The use of be in the pres. indie, is still
kept up in Early MnE : / be, thou beest, they be, etc. ; the
form he bes is, however, very rare. There is in MnE a
tendency to get rid of the distinctively subjunctive inflections
of this verb not only by using thou beest as if it were a
subjunctive — if thou beest = if thou be — but also by substi-
tuting if I was for if I were, etc. was = were was frequent
in the last century not only as a subjunctive, but also in the
indie. you was. In the present Spoken English the distinc-
tion between was and were is strictly maintained, the
substitution of was for were being a vulgarism. The subj.
pres. is, on the other hand, extinct in the spoken language,
except in a few phrases. The following are the inflections
of be in spoken English :
Pres. Indie, and Subj. Sing. I asm (m)
2 aar (ar)
3 iz (z, s) ; iznt
Plur. aar (ar)
Pret. Indie. Sing. I woz (waz) ; woznt
2 waar (war) ; waant
3 woz (waz) ; woznt
Plur. waar (war) ; waant
Pret. Subj. waar (war) ; waant
§ 1493-] VERBS; ANOMALOUS. 427
Imper. and Infin. bij
Pres. Partic. and Gerund bijirj
Pret. Partic. bijn, bin
1491. The negative forms left blank in the pres. are
generally supplied by (eint) in familiar speech, which is,
however, felt to be a vulgarism, and is avoided by many
educated speakers, who say (aim not) instead of (ai eint),
(aa ju not) instead of (eint ju).
1492. have. The OE inflections resemble those of
libban (1210) : hcebbe, hafast, hcefst, hafap, h<zfp, plur. habbap ;
subj. hcEbbe, hcEbben; pret. hcefde; imper. hafa, habbap;
infin. habban ; partic. hcebbende, gehce/d. In ME the old bb
was gradually supplanted by the z> = OEy"of the other forms,
the v itself being often dropped by contraction. The
Standard ME forms are : have, weak hav, hast, ha}>, plur.
hdve(n\ han, han; pret. hadde\ pret. partic. had. In ME
the weak short-vowel forms gradually supplanted the long-
vowel ones ; but we keep the long-vowel forms in the
derivative behave, pret. behaved=W£ behdven. The MnE
literary forms are : have, hast, hath, has plur. have ; subj.
pres. have; pret. indie, had, hadst; pret. subj. had; imper.
and infin. have; partic. having, had. Early MnE still kept
the shortened infin. ha, #=ME han\ she might a been
(Shakespere). In Present English the infinitive (9) occurs
only in vulgar or very indistinct speech. The distinctive
spoken forms of have in Present English are :—
haev (sv, v), haevnt; hsez (9z, z, s), haeznt; haed (9d, d),
haednt; haevin.
The distinction between subj. and indie, is entirely lost.
1493. do. OE do, dest (dcesf), dep (dce/>\ plur. doj>;
pret. weak dyde; imper. do, do/>; infin. don; partic. ddnde,
gedon. The mutation in dest, dep is common to all the
dialects. In Standard ME the d of the other parts of the
verb supplanted the older e: do, dost, dop, plur. don; dide;
imper. do, do}>; panic, doinge do(n). In MnE (uu)=ME d
428 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1494.
was shortened in the weak forms of dost, doth, does, done,
whence the present forms (crest, def>, d^z, d^n), which have
supplanted the Early MnE strong forms Cduust), etc. The
spoken forms in Present English are :
duw (da, d), dount ; d^z (daz), d^znt ; did, didnt ; dim.
PARTICLES.
1494. All the OE particles are either primary or
secondary (337). The secondary particles are formed
from other (declinable) parts of speech; thus ham in he
eode ham 'he went home' is formed from the masc. noun
ham 'home/ 'homestead/ Primary particles, such as be
1 by/ swd ' so ' are not formed from other parts of speech.
There is no strict division between the three classes of
^irticles, most of the prepositions being used also as adverbs,
some adverbs being used also as conjunctions. Thus cer is a
preposition in cer dcege ' before day(break)/ an adverb in he
eft wees papa swd he dr wees ' he was pope again as he was
before/ and a conjunction in dr j>cet fldd com 'before the
flood came/
1495. Some of the particles are simple, some derivative,
such as uf-an ' above/ some compound (group-compounds),
such as be-neopan ' beneath/ which is compounded with the
preposition be. The above are primary adverbs. Secondary
particles also admit of the same divisions, such as ham, soplice
' truly/ ealne-weg ' always/ literally ' all (the) way/
Ad verb- endings.
1496. In OE, adverbs are regularly formed from adjectives
by adding -e, a preceding a being generally changed to a :
deope 'deeply/ hearde ' strongly/ 'severely/ nearwe 'narrowly/
late 'slowly/ 'with delay' from deop, heard 'hard/ 'strong,'
1 severe/ nearu, Icet ' slow/ swipe ' very ' from the obsolete
adjective sw~ij> ' strong/ preserved in proper names such as
§i49«.] PARTICLES; ADVERB-ENDINGS. 429
Swlfihun ' Swithin/ literally ' strong cub/ Adjectives with
a mutated vowel often have an unmutated vowel in the
adverb, as in softe ( gently/ ' luxuriously/ swdte { sweetly' cor-
responding to the adjectives sefte (scefte), swete (sivcete).
The numerous adjectives in -lie form their adverbs in -lice,
the original length of the vowel being kept, as in ggeslice
'terribly/ gcsdliglice 'blessedly/ 'happily' from ggeslic,
ges&liglic [ggesa 'terror/ sal 'favourable time/ 'luck'].
But gesatiglic occurs also in the shorter form gescelig ; and
hence in this and similar cases the adverb could be regarded
as formed directly from the shorter adjective — ges&lig-lice
from gescelig. In this way -lice came to be regarded as an
independent adverb-ending equivalent to -e, which, through
being more distinct, it gradually supplanted in many words.
Hence -lice was sometimes added directly, without there being
any adjective in -lie.
1497. In ME the two endings -e and -Uche were both
kept, the latter appearing as -like in Early Midland, as in
deplike compared with Early Southern deopliche.
1498. When final -e was dropped in North-Thames
English the distinction between the adj. hard and the adverb
hard(e), etc. was lost. By degrees also the adverb-ending
-like was levelled under the adjective-ending -//= Southern
-Itch, and -It then became a regular adverb-ending. In Late
ME it was introduced into the Standard dialect, where it
supplanted the Early Southern -liche, as in deply, hardly,
openly. But -ly was also retained as an adjective-ending,
as it still is in such a word as goodly —QRL god Iti, ME godlich,
godli. Some of the MnE adverbs which have the same form
as adjectives, as in pull hard, speak loud, talk like a foreigner
compared with a hard pull, etc. are, of course, the descend-
ants of the OE adverbs in -e, such as hearde, hlude, gelue ;
but others are new-formations on the analogy of these
traditional ones, especially those in ^=OE -ig, as in pretty
well, mighty fine, for the OE adjectives in -ig formed their
4.30 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1499.
adverbs in -iglice (tnihtiglue] to avoid the ambiguity of -ige,
which might be mistaken for the plur., etc. inflection.
1499. In Old French the uninflected forms of adjectives
— originally the neut. sing. — were used as adverbs, which
were introduced into ME, whence such MnE adverbs as in
just ready, shut close [Old French clos from Latin clautum\,
quiet [Latin qvietum\ very=ME verrai 'true/ 'truly/ Old
French verai [Modern French . vrai\ from Latin verdxy
veracem.
1500. In Present English, adverbs in -ly are formed freely
from all kinds of adjectives, as in deeply ', foolishly ', wittingly,
affectedly. Through the shortening of double consonants
the (1) is dropped after adjectives ending in (1), as in fully
(fuli), nobly. The addition of -ly is attended by various
changes of spelling, as in merrily, gaily [old-fashioned
English and American gayly\, fully, nobly from merry r, gay,
full, noble. Adverbs in -ly are not often formed from
adjectives that already end in -ly, these adjectives generally
forming their adverbs by periphrases, such as in a lively
manner, in a friendly way. Some MnE adverbs in -ly are
formed direct from nouns, such as namely ; but such adverbs
as daily, yearly, quarterly in he is paid quarterly are old
adjectives used as adverbs.
A less frequent adverb-ending in OE was -unga, -inga, by
which adverbs were formed from adjectives : eallunga 'entirely/
ierringa 'angrily/ from eall, ierre. There was also in OE
a class of adverbs formed from nouns -mostly names of parts
of the body — by adding -ling and prefixing the preposition
on, such as on bceding 'backwards.' By blending these two
endings a new ending -lunga, -linga was formed, as in grund-
lunga 'from the foundations/ 'completely.' In ME the
ending -linge is frequent, the adverbial -es (1504) being often
added, as in h$dlinge(s) ' headlong/ n(jselinge(s} ' on the nose/
* at full length/ sidelinge(s) ' sideways.' In MnE this ending
has been confused with the adjective long. Hence in Early
MnE we find sideling, sidelong ' side ways/ Jlatling and flathng,
as in the blow fell flatlong, that is, 'was given with the flat of
§1503.] PARTICLES; ADVERBS. 431
the sword instead of the point.' In Present English headlong
is still an adverb, sidelong being an adjective — a sidelong glance.
The older sidelinge was regarded as a pres. partic., and from
it was formed a verb to sidle (up to). So also the ME adverb
grovelinge ' grovellingly ' was made into the verb grovel.
1501. In ME and MnE some new adverb-endings arose
out of OE adverbial phrases. Thus the OE on ofire wlsan
' in another way ' [wise weak fern. ' manner/ ' way '] was
shortened and hardened into the group oprewue, operwise',
and in MnE -wise was used to form new adverbs, such as
likewise, nowise. The noun way was used in like manner to
form adverb-groups such as midway, noway, whence noways
with the usual addition of -s. -wise, and -ways were often
confused, as in lengthwise= lengthways, endwise, coastwise.
The nouns time and wht7e=QlL weak masc. tima and strong
fern, hwil ' time/ have also come to be used as adverb-endings
in such words as meantime, sometime(s), ofitimes, oftentimes,
meanwhile, somewhile, otherwhile(s), the last two being now
obsolete.
Adverbs formed direct from Nouns and Adjectives.
1502. Many OE adverbs are formed direct from nouns
or adjectives, either inflected or uninflected. The following
are uninflected, being formed from nouns in the ace. sing,
and adjectives in the neut. sing.: ham, nor]?, sufi, east, west]
eall ' entirely/ neah ' nearly/ gendg ' sufficiently.' «
The most important inflectional endings are -um and
-es\ —
1503. -urn : hwihim ' sometimes/ stundtim ' at intervals '
[stund strong fern. ' period ']. -indium from the neut. noun
mdl ' mark/ ' point of time ' is a frequent adverb-ending, as
in styccem&lum ' piecemeal/ floccmcelum ' in troops.' From
adjectives are formed miclum ' greatly/ lytlum and lytlum * by
little and little/ ' by degrees.' The isolated ME whilom is
still preserved in the higher language, -mcelum in ME passed
432 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1504.
through -melen into -mele, as in dropmele, pecemele, where stycce
was replaced by its French equivalent.
1504. -es in OE was extended to fem. nouns as an adverb-
ending : doEges and nihtes ' by day and by night,' sumeres and
wintra \wintra masc. gen. like suna], nledes 'of necessity'
\nied fem.] ; ealles ' entirely,' glles ' otherwise ' from a lost
adjective. The adverb-ending -weardes interchanges with the
uninflected -weard, as in hdmweard(es] ' homewards.' In
ME and MnE this ending was dropped in some words, as in
Late ME day and night', but it was more often extended,
especially to adverbs which in OE ended in a vowel or n, in
order to make them more distinct, as in always = Early MnE
alwai, OE ealneweg, gnes ' once ' = OE cene, the mutated &
being supplanted by ^=the OE a in an, twies 'twice,' fries
1 thrice '= OE hviwa, priwa. OE heonone 'hence' (1509)
became he(p)nne in Early ME, and by the addition of
-s, hennes, OE panon ' thence,' hwanon ' whence ' becoming
Late ME fiennes, whennes by the influence of hennes. So also
OE sipfian (1511) ' since ' passed through stfifon, sin into
sifiens, sins. This extension of -s went on in MnE also, as
in sometimes= earlier MnE sometime, which is still preserved
in the higher language.
Some adverbs in -es took final / in Early MnE or Late ME,
as in amidst, betwixt, whilst, amongst= ME amiddes — a blending
of OE onmiddan and tomiddes — betwix(f], whiles, amgng.
1505. .The following are examples of OE group-adverbs :
ealneweg, ealneg ' always,' georslandcpg ' yesterday/ on weg
' away,' on b<zc ' backwards,' ' back,' of dune ' down/ literally
' off the hill/ todcrg ' today/ where to governs an exceptional
form of the dative. All the above show isolation either of
form or meaning, and therefore approximate to compounds.
Such collocations, on the other hand, as on life ' alive '
literally ' in life/ on sldpe ' in sleep, asleep/ on eornost l in
earnest' show no isolation either of meaning or form. But
in ME there was a tendency to shorten weak of and on to a
§ 1508.] PARTICLES ; ADVERBS. 433
whenever they were closely associated with the following
word. Hence the ME forms adune, adun ' down ' adv.,
awai, abak, alive, aslepe, the a having been dropped in the
MnE adverbs down, back. The same weakening took place
in ME and Early MnE combinations, as in aclock, now
written <> clock—of (the] clock, and also in freer combinations,
as in go a fishing = OE gdn on fiscnoj), twice a day = OE
twiwa on dcege.
In MnE this a was taken for the indef. article, so that in
jackanapes=jack$)f-apes it was made into an before a vowel.
Some French group-adverbs formed with the preposition a
were introduced into ME, where they were of course put on
a level with the similar native combinations : apart, apas=
MnE apace.
1506. In ME the OE preposition be became bl (1536), but
the old be was kept in compounds such as beforen = OE be-
foran,-w&& also in some traditional collocations such as OE
be sldan ' by the side/ ME beside, which was now completely
isolated from bl pe(re) side, just as alive was isolated from in
al his llf etc. But the new preposition bl was sometimes
introduced into these groups, being however shortened to bi\
bifore, biside. On the analogy of the older compounds the
new-formation bl cause ' by the cause ' was made into bicause,
because.
1507. In ME and MnE the place of a lost or obscured
ending was sometimes supplied by a preposition, giving rise
to new group-adverbs, such as of a /r«/A = OE sdpes, of right
= OE ryhtes, bl peceme/e=QJL styccem&lum, by little and little—
OE lytlum and lytlum.
Sometimes a preposition was added even when the ending
was clear, as in at unawares.
Pronominal Adverbs.
1508. Among the OE primary adverbs there is a sym-
metrical group of adverbs of place, connected with the
VOL. i. F f
434 ACCIDENCE. [§1509.
pronouns he, pat, hivcct, their endings expressing respectively
rest, motion to, and motion from : —
Rest
/kfr'here'
p&r ' there '
hw&r ' where '
Motion to
hider ( hither '
pider ' thither '
hwider ( whither '
Motion from
heonon ' hence '
panon ' thence '
hwanon 'whence'
The ME th in hither etc. is due to the influence of the r
(877).
1509. The ending -er, -an, -on of the other primary
adverbs has no very definite meaning : of-er ' over/ ex-
pressing both motion and rest, und-er, ceft-er ; inn- an ' within/
uf-an ' above ' [connected with ofer], hindan ' behind/ for an
* in front/ The ending -an was, however, extended to the
noun-derived adverbs norp etc., where it kept its definite
meaning : norpan ' from the north/ supan ' from the south.'
-on, -an often takes final -e : heonone, utan(e) 'outside.' The
adverbs ponne l then/ ' than/ hwonne ' when ' are also pro-
nominal.
1510. Many OE adverbs are formed directly from pro-
nouns. The neuter pat is used as a conjunction exactly as
in MnE: he sccgde pcet\ he scegde pcet he ware gearu, literally
' he said that : (namely) he was ready.' So also the pronoun
hwceper is used in the same way as whether. The indeclin-
able pe is used as a relative pronoun, both alone and in
combination with se (1142), and is used also as a particle in
a variety of meanings — ' when/ ' because ' etc. It is also
added to particles to make them into conjunctions, or mark
them more distinctly as such, as mpeah-pe ' although' conjunc-
tion,/^^ ' though' being an adverb, paite ' that ' conj.=/^//(?
(767). Inflected pronouns are also used as particles, by,
the instrumental of peel, is used in the sense of ' therefore/
' because/ and to express measure and proportion, as in py
ma ( the more/ correlative^ . . .y^y=MnE the . . . the in the
more the merrier. The change of py into the is the result of
loss of stress and confusion with the indeclinable/*?, hwy, the
§1513.] PARTICLES', ADVERBS. 435
instrumental of hwcct, is used in the sense of its MnE descen-
dant why.
1511. There are many group-particles in OE consisting of
a preposition governing a pronoun in the dat. or instr. The
combination with the preposition alone generally forms an
adverb— -for p<zm, for pon, for fry ' therefore ' — the corre-
sponding conjunctions being formed by the addition ^ pe —
for p&m pe, for pon pe, for py pe 'because/ cer pcem pe
'before/ after p&m pe l after' — or p<zt\ to pcem pcct, to pon
pat ' in order that/
sippan, seoppan ' since ' contains an obsolete preposition * sip
' s\KQ.t'>—sippan=sip-pon with shortening of the f.
1512. There are similar group-particles formed by combi-
nations of pronouns with nouns and adverbs formed from
adjectives, such as pa hw'ile pe 'while/ literally 'the time
when' \_pa hw'ile ace. fern, sing.], nd py Ices 'nevertheless/
' notwithstanding/ literally ' not by-that less/ py ICES pe ' lest/
literally ' by-that less that/
1513. The gr<ju\)-&&v£fo$for-ft,for-fian,for-hwi continued
in use throughout the ME period, but became obsolete in
MnE. The groups in -pe were modified in various ways.
In Early ME the ambiguous pe was generally made into
pat, as in for-pl-pat, pe-while-pat, or dropped entirely, as in
peih,pouh conj.= OE peah pe. pat often took the place of
the inflected pronoun, as in for-pat, gr-pat, after-pat, and
the new-formations til-pat, before-pat. But even in the Earliest
ME the pronouns were dropped, so that the bare preposi-
tions for, jr, before etc. were used as conjunctions, as in
MnE, this shortening being helped by the fact that even in
OE the prepositions ar ' before ' and butan ' without ' were
used also as conjunctions, the latter in the sense of ' except/
' unless/ pe-hwlle-pe was shortened to pe-hw~ile and then to
hw'ile, whence the later whiles, whilst, the older the while,
while still surviving in the higher language. OE py !ces pe
Ff 2
ACCIDENCE. [§1514.
dropped the py in Early MnE, and sp was made into st
(767), giving faste, shortened leste, lest.
Correlative Particles.
1514. OE correlative particles are : p$ . . . py (1510) ; swa
. . . swa, as in swa hwit swa snaw * as white as snow'; pa . . .
pa, ponne . . . ponne ' then . . . when ' as in pa he com, pa eode
ic ' when he came, I went/ the second (demonstrative) pa,
ponne being omitted in MnE. Indefinite adverbs are formed
like indefinite pronouns (1146) with correlative swa — swa
liw&r swa ' wherever/
1515. In ME the first two groups were preserved in the
form of/<? .../<? and alswg . . . ase, as . . . as, alswg being a
strong, as(e) a weak form of the OE group eall-swa 'entirely so/
In the other correlative groups one of the members was
generally omitted in ME, as in the ME and MnE equivalents
of the OE pa . . . pa, ponne . . . ponne, where the relative when
was substituted for penne = OE ponne, the second member
being omitted.
So also swa hw&r swa appears as whjr sg in ME.
Pronominal Conjunctions.
1516. In OE the neuter pronouns auper, nauper, &gper
(1146, 1155) are often used adverbially in connection with
the correlative conjunction-pairs ge . . . ge ' both . . . and/
oppe . . . oppe ' either . . . or/ ne . . . ne ' neither . . . nor/
standing in a kind of opposition to them : hie cupon cegper,
ge god ge yfel « they knew each-of-the-two, both good and
evil ' ; se geswgnced bip auper ; oppe on mode oppe on lichaman
'he who is afflicted either-way, either in mind or in body';
hie ne cupon nan-ping yfeles, naper ne on sprcece ne on weorce
' they knew nothing of evil, no-way, neither in speech nor in
action/
1517. In Early ME the first correlative conjunction was
dropped in buch combinations, so that the adverbial pronoun
§ 1 5 1 8.] PAR TICL ES ; NE GA 770 AT. 437
was brought into direct correlation with the second conjunc-
tion, OE ndper ne . . . ne being made into ngper . . . ne, neiper
. . . ne (1156) etc. : ripper on 'speche ne on iverke. The original
pronoun afterwards supplanted the second conjunction as
well, where, being unstressed, it was liable to shortening,
whence the pairs gper (eiper) . . . or, noper (neiper} . . . nor :
gvert man schal have gper god gper iivel — eiper god or ilveL
The weak or, nor were only rarely introduced into the first
clause as well ; but in the higher language we still use or . . .
or instead of either . . . or. The new conjunctions soon came
to be used without any correlative, as in the Early MnE he
mihte riden gper ggn. The correlative both . . . and arose in
the same way as either . . . or etc., the beginning of it being
seen in such an OE construction as hie bu geseop, pcet he hie
gengrede, and him eac forgeaf ece llf, ' they see both (neut. sing.)
that he has saved them, and has also given them eternal
life/
Negation and Affirmation.
1518. The negative particle in OE is ne, which drops its
vowel in some combinations before a vowel, or h or w followed
by a vowel, these consonants being also dropped, nwi- being
made into ny- ; thus eom ' am/ h&fp ' has/ hcefde ' had/ wdt
' knows/ wiste ' knew/ wile ' will/ wolde ' would ' have the
negative forms neom ' am not/ nccfp, ncsfde, ndt, nys/e, nyle,
nolde. Some pronouns and adverbs have similar negative
forms, such as nan ' none/ nahwceper, nauper ' neither/ naiviht,
nahi, ndwiht, noht ' nothing/ nd ' not ' from an, ahwaper, dwiht
(oiviht\ d ' ever/ In sentences the ne is prefixed to the verb,
being contracted with it if possible, and to all the other words
in the sentence that admit of contracted negative forms : nan
ne dorste nan ping dscian ' no-one durst ask anything/ If the
sentence does not contain any such contracted negatives in
addition to the negaiived verb, the stronger nd or naht is added
438 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1519.
to support the ne before the verb : jxzt hus nd ne feoll ' the
house did not fall/
1510. In ME the usage is often the same as in OE :
he njver nadde ngfring. But the weak form of ndwiht,
namely nat, not (1147) from being a mere strengthening of
the «<?, began to supplant it, as in to me sche wol nat do fiat
grdce^ although ne is often kept, as in Dg£> ne wol nat hdn ml
1520. In MnE ne disappeared entirely. At the same time
the influence of Latin grammar led to the adoption of the
logical principle that ' two negatives contradict each other and
make an affirmative/ which is now strictly carried out in the
Standard language, spoken as well as written, though the old
pleonastic negatives are still kept up in vulgar speech, as in /
don't know nothing about z'/=the educated I do not know any-
thing about it or / know nothing about it.
1521. Although OE naht was preferred to nd as the auxi-
liary negative in ME, the latter held its ground in certain
collocations, especially before comparative adjectives and
adverbs, and is still kept in such phrases as he is no better ; no
more of this I And no is always used as the absolute nega-
tion—in answer to questions etc. — together with nay, which
is the Scandinavian net ' no/ literally ' not-ever/ nay is now
obsolete in speech.
1522. The OE particles of affirmation are gea, Anglian
giz, ge, ME^f, Early MnE (]ee) Second MnE (jii, jee), which
is now obsolete ; and >w=OE gise, Anglian gese, ME and
Early MnEyt's,yes. gise is an old group-compound of gea
and the subjunctive sie ' be it ' ; it was therefore originally an
emphatic affirmative.
Comparison of Adverbs.
1523. The comparison of adverbs has already been treated
of under Adjectives (1036). In OE the regular forms of
adverb-comparison were -£, -or, -ost and -lice, -h'cor, -liocor,
§1526.] PARTICLES; COMPARISON. 439
-licost, -liocosl'. deope, deopUce ; deopor, Late OE deoppor (769),
deoplicor; deopost, deoplicost. There was also a smaller class
with mutation in the higher degrees, the endings being -e, -,
-est, as in lange ' for a long time/ Igng, longest. Most of the
adverbs which admit of comparison are formed from adjec-
tives ; but primary adverbs also admit of direct comparison,
with and without mutation: oft 'often/ of tor, oftost\ <zr
' before/ ceror, cerest.
1524. In MnE the comparison -er, -est is, as a general
rule, applied only to those adverbs which have no special
adverbial ending in the positive, especially those which have
the same form as the corresponding adjectives, such as hard
— as in pull harder, pull hardest — loud, quick, fast. long. The
comparison of primary adverbs, as in qften = OTL oft, oftener,
oftenest, has in some cases been carried further than in OE, as
in soon, sooner, soonest, seldomer, the OE sona, seldon not
admitting of comparison. Adverbs in -ly are compared peri-
phrastically : fully, more fully, most fully. But in the spoken
language these adverbs often form their comparisons by
inflection from the corresponding adjective : easy, easier — as
in easier said than do?ie — easiest ; cheaply, cheaper, cheapest —
as in where it can be done cheapest.
1525. The following adverbs are compared irregularly in
MnE:—
well ; better ; best. OE wel ; bgt ; bgtst, which dropped its
/ in ME best on the analogy of mcest, etc.
badly (evilly, ill) ; worse, worst. OE yfle ; wiers (wyrs) ;
wierrest, ivierst (wyrrest, wyrsf).
much, more, most. OE micle ; vm(re] ; nicest.
little, less, least. OE lytle, lyt ; fees ; last.
far ; farther, further ; farthest, furthest. QfLfcorr ; fierr ;
fierrest.
1526. There are besides various isolated forms which have
been treated of under the comparison of adjectives. From
the comparative adverb ra/fier=OT£ hrapor 'quicker/ 'sooner*
440 ACCIDENCE. [§1527.
a positive adjective rathe was formed in MnE — the rathe prim-
rose (Milton) — which is now obsolete.
1527. From some of the isolated comparatives and super-
latives, whose meaning has been forgotten and which have
come to be regarded as positives, adverbs have been formed
by adding -ly : formerly, latterly, lastly.
PREPOSITIONS.
OLD-ENGLISH.
1528. Of the OE prepositions some are simple, some
compound. Most of the latter are made up of prepositions —
especially be — and place-adverbs ending in -an, -on, be- becom-
ing b- before a vowel, such contracted forms as bufan 'above'
= *be-ufan, being made into new compounds, such as onbufan
1 above/ The following are the most important of these
compound prepositions :—
8Bt : cetforan ' before.'
be ' by ' : barf tan ' behind/ beforan ' before/ begeondan
'beyondj&e/rindan ' behind/ binnan '\\\\.\\m'beneopan 'beneath,'
bufan ( above/ butan ' outside.'
on : onforan ' before/ oninnan ( within/ onbufan ' above/
onuppan ' upon/ onbutan c around/
to : toforan c before.'
under : underneopan ' beneath/
wij) ' towards ' : wifrnnan ' within/ wfyutan ' without/
ymb ' around ' : ymbutan ' around/
1529. Other compound prepositions are formed of prepo-
sitions + nouns or adjectives in the four cases governed by
OE prepositions — the ace., dat., instr., gen. : ongemang
'among/ literally 'into the crowd'; ongean, Anglian ongggn,
ongen, ' against/ and togeanes, Anglian logegnes, togenes
'towards/ 'against' contain an obsolete noun of uncertain
meaning; tomiddes 'amidst' is formed from the adj. midd
§ I534-] PREPOSITIONS. 441
' middle ' ; betweonum, betwix are formed from an obsolete
adjective connected with twiwa ' twice.'
1530. Those OE prepositions which govern both ace. and
dat., generally take the ace. to express motion, the dat. (or
instr.) to express rest : he code on poet hus ' he went into the
house ' ; he wunode on pam huse ' he remained in the house.'
1531. As we see in the last examples the preposition on
does duty for in, which became extinct in Later OE.
1532. The OE prepositions are closely allied to the
adverbs. Most of them can be used as adverbs without any
change of form. Thus on is an adverb in he dyde on his
byrnan * he put on his corslet,' the MnE don and doff being
contractions of OE do(n) on, do of. So also in he him tociv<z}>
* he said to him ' compared with hecwcr}> to him. Some pre-
positions however, such as^r, are not used as adverbs, while
others undergo change of form. Thus the adverbs corres-
ponding to be and in (on) are bi and inn : he stod bi, he stdd
him bi, he eode inn compared with he stod be him ' he stood by
him,' he eode in (pri)J>cethus. The preposition be is, of course,
the weak form due to want of stress, bi being the original
strong form.
1533. In such combinations liS freer on, JxErtd, which in OE
are regularly used to express on it, to it, etc. (379), on and to
must, of course, be regarded as adverbs, therein, herein are,
indeed, often expressed by p&rinne, herinne with the pure
adverb inne=innan.
1534. It is to be observed that the prepositions were
originally all adverbs, which could modify either verbs (he
stood by] or nouns. Adverbs were originally added to inflected
nouns to express more definitely the meanings already indi-
cated by the inflection. Thus * motion to ' was originally
expressed by the ace. alone, as we see in the Latin domum
venit * he came home ' and also in the adverb home itself, and
the prepositions on, in, through, etc. were put before the ace.
of motion to define it more exactly. So also in on J>cem huse
442 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1535.
the idea of ' rest in a place ' was primarily expressed by the
dative, which here represents the Arian locative.
MIDDLE AND MODERN ENGLISH.
1535. In ME the adverb bi was extended to the function
of a preposition — a change which had already begun in OE
— so that be was preserved only in compounds and traditional
groups such as beforen, beside. By the change of -an, -on
into -e the OE adverb foran and the prepositionyftr^ ' before '
were levelled under the latter, and by the analogy of the
adverbs inne, ute-=innan, utan, the preposition mid 'with'
when used as an adverb was made into mide, as in J>grmide—
OE fr&rmid. So also for, which had no corresponding
adverb-form in OE, developed a ME adverb fore, as mj>/r/ore,
wh^rfore. The confusion that thus arose between OE for
and/ore was avoided by an extended use of the compound
before(ri).
1536. In ME innan ' inside ' came into general use as a
preposition so as to avoid the ambiguity of OE on=' on/ ' in/
Being generally unstressed, it was shortened first to me and
then to in, the original distinction being thus restored.
1537. In ME/r^ from Scandinavian/hz andyhwj = OE
fram were used both as adverbs and prepositions. We now
Msefro only as an adverb in the phrase to and fro.
1538. In ME the preposition mid ' with ' got confused with
wtj> ' against ' — a confusion which would easily arise in such
phrases as fight with (OE feohtan wifi), deal with, where the
relation between the parties might be considered either from
its original point of view as ' towards/ ' against/ or from that
of ' participation/ ' having in common/ By degrees the more
marked meaning of OE wi]> was expressed by against, and
ME wifr took the meanings of mid, which then became
extinct.
For the differentiation of OE of, wi}> into MnE of, o
vvi}>) see § 86 1.
§ I543-] INTERJECTIONS. 443
1539. In ME the rare construction of prepositions with
the genitive was soon given up — except of course in iso-
lated groups such as tomiddes — and when the distinction
between the other oblique cases and the nom. was lost in the
nouns, and nothing was left but the distinction of nom. and
objective in some of the personal pronouns, the only trace
left of case-government by prepositions was that they were
sometimes followed by a personal pronoun in the objective
case.
1540. In OE the adverbial ending -weard is sometimes
used detached in connection with the preposition to in such
constructions as wip hire (dat.) weard ' towards her/ In
ME this is often carried further, as in to wode ward, to Troie
wardes— toward J?e wode, tdwardes Troie, frg Bordeux ward
compared with framward Teukesburt, where framward is a
new formation on the analogy of toward. In Early MnE the
Bible still has to God ward.
1541. In ME the a of amiddes was restored to its full form
on, for which in was afterwards substituted. The body of
the word was then regarded as an independent noun, so that
at last inmidst developed into in the midst (of\
INTERJECTIONS.
1542. Interjections are primary and secondary. Pri-
mary interjections are mostly imitations of sounds that ac-
company emotions : ah, o, oh, pah, pooh, hush. From them
other parts of speech may be formed ; thus hush is used as a
verb — to hush. Such interjections as ivhatl dear me I are
secondary. There are also mixed interjections, made up
of primary interjections combined with other parts of speech,
such as alas from Old French halas, alas [Modern French
he'las], made up of the interjection a and !as= Latin lassum
1 weary.'
1543. The OE Id! eald ! <oh!' seem to be primary.
444 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1544.
wd ! f woe ! ' is the same word as the noun wdwa, wd
1 misfortune.' wdld ! wdldwd ! ( alas ! ' are therefore mixed
interjections.
1544. Interjections may stand in various grammatical
relations to other words. Hence in OE, wd sometimes
governs a dat., as in wd frcem mgnn ! ' woe to the man ! '
wdld governs a gen. in such phrases as wdld pcere t'ermpe !
' alas for the misery/ on the analogy of the gen. after verbs
of repenting, etc. As we see from the above examples,
interjections are frequently connected with prepositions in
MnE.
COMPOSITION.
Old-English.
1545. The normal way of forming compounds in OE is
by joining together two words — which may be themselves
compound or derivative words — the former word being unin-
flected, the latter, if declinable, keeping its power of inflec-
tion, and, if a noun, determining the gender of the whole
compound. Thus the neuter noun gold and the masculine
noun smi]> can be combined to form the compound mascu-
line noun goldsmip ' goldsmith.' So also dfen-t'id ' evening
time ' is feminine because its last element is a feminine noun.
These compounds of noun + noun are the most frequent.
There are also compounds of adjective + noun, such as
halig-dceg ' church festival ' literally ' holy-day,' cwic-seolfor
'quick-silver,' 'mercury,' literally 'living silver'; of noun + ad-
jective, such as win-sad 'satiated with wine/ and of
adjective + adjective, such as wld-cuj) 'widely known.'
1546. In the above examples the part of speech of the
whole compound is determined by that of the last element.
But there is a class of adjective + noun compounds having the
function of adjectives, such as glcpd-mod ' having a glad
mood/ blifi-heort ' blithe of heart/ ' cheerful/ formed from the
§1549-1 COMPOSITION. 445
adjectives glad, bltpe and the nouns mod, heorte. As we see
from the last example, the noun is sometimes shortened in
such compounds. We call these compounds conversion-
compounds, because they involve the conversion of a noun
into an adjective. They are very old formations, such con-
version-compounds as the Greek dus-menes 'having an evil
mind/ having apparently been formed in Parent Arian.
Parent Arian had also double conversion-compounds, con-
sisting of two nouns. An example of such compounds is
afforded by the Greek rhodo-ddktitlos 'having rose-fingers,'
'rosy-fingered3 (an epithet of the Dawn).
The OE ending -lie is really the obscured second element of
old conversion-compounds (1614).
1547. The form-isolation of compounds in OE consists in
the indeclinability of the first element. It is only by this
criterion that we can distinguish such compounds as goddced
1 benefit ' from the word-group god deed ' good action/ as in
the dative plural goddddum compared with godum dddum.
1548. It is only occasionally that the first element of a
compound in OE shows any variation from the form it has
when detached. But final vowels are often dropped, as in
gum-cynn ' mankind/ from guma ' man/ sunn-beam ' sun-
beam/ from sunne ' sun/ compared with sige-lean ( reward of
victory.'
1549. Normal OE compounds take the stress on the first
element ; but as word-groups beginning with the genitive of a
noun or an inflected adjective do the same, stress is in OE
no criterion of composition as opposed to mere grouping.
Hence there is in OE no formal distinction between such a
word-group as 'cyninges sunn ( king's son/ in which the mean-
ing of the whole follows from that of its elements, and one
in which there is isolation of meaning, such as the plant-
name peaces-sure ' sorrel/ literally ' cuckoo's-sour.' But as
most of the latter class developed into true compounds in
MnE through keeping their uneven stress (894), it is con-
ACCIDENCE. [§1550.
venient to regard them as 'genitive-compounds' in OE as
well. The following are examples of such OE genitive
compounds, many of which, it will be observed, have been
obscured in MnE : —
Tiwes-dceg { Tuesday/ literally ' day of the war-god (77w),
the name being a translation of the Latin dies Martis (French
Mardt), Sunnan-dcrg ' Sunday ' [sunne ' sun '], Monan-dcpg
'Monday' \mona 'moon'], ^ngla-land 'England/ literally
* land of the Anglians' [Jungle plur. 'Anglians/ 'English'],
witena-gembt ' parliament/ literally ' meeting of the wise men
or councillors/ often erroneously written witangemot, d&ges-
eage l daisy/ literally ' eye of day.' These combinations are
especially frequent as place-names, such as Seoles-ug ' Selsey/
literally ' seal's island/ Oxena-ford ' Oxford/ literally ' ford
of oxen/ Buccingu-hdm, ' Buckingham/ literally ' home of
(the tribe or family of) the Buccings/ Defene-sclr ' Devon-
shire/ literally ' province of Devonia ' (OE Defen).
1550. Verbs are very rarely compounded directly with
nouns or adjectives in OE, although there is nothing to
prevent verbs being formed from compound nouns or
adjectives. Thus from the compound noun wuldor-beag
1 glory-crown/ ' aureole ' is formed the verb wuldorbeagian
' to crown/ there being no separate verb *beagian. But the
frequent combinations of verbs with prefixes, such as mis-don
'act amiss/ 'do wrong/ led to combinations with certain
adjectives in similar adverbial meanings, such as full mfull-
fyllan 'fully fill/ ' fulfil/ full-wyrcan 'fully work/ 'complete/
and efen ' even/ ' equal/ which in composition expresses the
idea of community or association, as in efen-frrowian ( sym-
pathize/ literally ' suffer in common with.' The want of
stress in the first elements of these compounds shows that
they are felt as mere prefixes.
Modern English.
1551. In MnE some compounds are formed by adding
§ iS54.] COMPOSITION. 447
to the first element the Latin and Greek connecting-vowel o,
but only when the first element is in a Latin or Latinized
form, as in Anglosaxon, Anglo-Indian, Franco-German, a
concavo-convex lens.
The connecting vowel o is very frequent in Greek compounds,
such as hippo-ddmos ' horse-taming,' philo-sophia ' philosophy,'
literally ' loving wisdom.' In such forms as hippo-^ philo- are
preserved one of the most frequent forms of uninflected nouns
and adjectives in a primitive stage of Parent Arian. When in-
flections were fully developed, these old uninflected forms sur-
vived only as the first elements of compounds. It is possible
that such OE compounds as dcege-weorc ' day's work,' nihte-gale
'nightingale,' literally 'night-singer,' from dag and niht, still
preserve remains of the old connecting vowel.
The ng in the MnE nightingale may be due to the influence
of evening. In MnE handiwork the i is the OE prefix^-, pre-
served in enough = QY. genog, the OE form of the compound
being hand-geweorc. The *- was preserved in MnE probably
through association with the adjective handy- handicraft =Q^L
handcrceft probably owes its i to the influence of handiwork and
handy.
1552. One of the formal tests of composition in MnE as
well as in OE is the inseparability and indeclinability of the
first element. But owing to the scantiness of the inflections
in MnE and its more rigid word-order, these tests are not so
decisive in it as in OE, especially when an adjective is the
first element. The great extension of even stress in MnE,
on the other hand, makes stress the main criterion for
distinguishing between compounds and word-groups (889).
1553. One result of this further development of stress-
distinctions in MnE is that we are able to recognize a
special class of MnE genitive-compounds, distinguished from
mere genitive-groups in the same way as compounds beginning
with an adjective are distinguished from the corresponding
word-groups, namely by having uneven instead of even
stress (894).
1554. Hence also the OE compounds goldfcet, godddd
448 ACCIDENCE. [§1555-
have in MnE been separated into the groups 'gold 'vessel, good
deed, such OE compounds as goldsmtp, cwicseolfor being
preserved as compounds in the form of goldsmith, quicksilver
by their uneven stress ; while the OE groups domes dceg, bkcc
bgrige have been made into the compounds doomsday, black-
berry.
1555. Some compounds of MnE formation have a noun
in the plural as their first element, but only when this noun
in the plural has developed a meaning of its own different
from that of the singular, so that it is isolated from its
singular, the connection between them being sometimes
forgotten. Such compounds are clothesbrush, clothes-basket,
etc., newsboy, newspaper (njuwspeipa), where the compound is
obscured by the change of the (z) of news (njuwz) into (s).
1556. As regards the use of the different parts of speech
in composition, the most noticeable difference between OE
and MnE is the greater freedom with which in MnE verbs
enter into composition with nouns and adjectives, the result
of the combination being sometimes a noun, as in breakwater,
clasp-knife, sometimes a verb, as in browbeat, whitewash,
according as the last element is a noun or a verb. But such
compounds are still comparatively rare, the main combina-
tions of verbs being with particles, as in OE.
Meaning of Compounds.
1557. The general rule of English — as also of Parent
Arian — composition is to put the adjunct- word before the
head-word, on the same principle of putting the modifier
before the modified word as we follow in the group adjective
+ noun. " Hence the order in the compound blackbird is the
same as in the group black bird.
In such groups as man-of-war, bread-and-butter, on the
contrary, the modifying element follows, instead of preceding,
and accordingly the stress is thrown on to the second element.
The end-stress in man' kind seems to show that even in a
§ 1560.] COMPOSITION. 449
normal compound the second element may sometimes be re-
garded as the modifying one.
1558. In many cases the logical relation between the
elements of a compound may be denned with certainty and
accuracy, as may be seen from the lists given under the head
of stress in compounds (896 foil.). Thus it is perfectly
clear that in goldfish the first element defines the second one
by stating something that the second element resembles, the
compound being equivalent to ' gold-resembling fish,' or
more definitely ' gold- coloured fish/ So also it is evident
that sight in sightseer stands in the same relation to seer as
it does to the verb see in he saw the sights, and that the
elements of churchgoer stands to one another in the same
relation as church arid go do in he goes to church.
1559. But in many cases these logical relations are less
definite. Thus a water-plant might mean a plant growing
in the water, or a plant growing near the water, or, on the
analogy of water-melon, we might suppose it to mean a plant
containing a great deal of moisture, and perhaps growing
in a comparatively dry place. The logical relations between
the elements of causal and phenomenon-compounds are
often difficult to define accurately, even when the meaning of
the compound itself is definite, as in sundial, which might be
explained either as a c dial for showing the position of the
sun/ or as a ' dial worked — as it were — by the sun instead
of by clockwork, etc.'
1560. It must, indeed, be borne in mind that this very
vagueness is the chief reason why composition is resorted
to : it is only by leaving open the logical relations between
the elements of compounds that we are able to form them
as we want them without stopping to analyze exactly the
logical or grammatical relations between the words we join
together, as we might have to do if we connected them
together by more definite means, such as prepositions or
inflections.
VOL. i. G g
450 ACCIDENCE. [§1561.
1561. An important general distinction between compounds
as regards their meaning is the closeness of the logical
connection between them. We may from this point of view
distinguish between co-compounds and sub-compounds
in the same way as we distinguish between co-complexes
and sub-complexes (456). Thus in a causal compound the
relation between the two elements is an intimate one, like
that between the clauses of a causal complex sentence.
There are hardly any pure co-compounds in English, such
a combination as deaf -mute =l & person who is deaf and
dumb ' being an even-stress group-compound and not a pure
compound. Pure co-compounds are found in Greek, and are
very frequent in Sanskrit, where we find long ' copulative '
compounds such as god-angel-man-serpent-demons meaning
simply ' gods, angels, men, serpents, and demons/ that is,
' all living creatures.' As we have seen, the less close the
logical relation between the elements of a compound, that is,
the more co-ordinative the compound is, the greater the
tendency in Present English to resolve it into an even-stress
word-group.
DERIVATION.
Native Elements.
PREFIXES.
1562. Some of the OE prefixes are strong (strong-stressed),
some weak (weak-stressed). Noun- and adjective-prefixes —
that is, prefixes added to nouns and adjectives respectively—
are generally strong, as in 'mis-dad 'misdeed/ -un-cuj>
' unknown '; while verb-prefixes are generally weak, as in
forgiefan ' forgive/ When the same prefix is used both
with nouns (and adjectives) and with verbs, it generally takes
a shortened and weakened form in the latter combination,
which is the natural result of its weak stress. The following
are examples of such pairs of originally identical prefixes : —
§ 1566.] NATIVE PREFIXES. 451
'and-giet ' intelligence ' on'gietan ' understand
'CBf-ptmca ' grudge ' ofpyncan ' to grudge '
'or-panc ' device ' a'pgncan ' devise '
'bl-gang ' circuit ' be'gan ' practise '
1563. When a verb is formed direct from a noun or
adjective, the strong form of the prefix is preserved un-
changed, as in 'andswarian 'to answer' from the noun
•and-swaru ' answer/
Originally there was a verb *on'sivertan corresponding to
andsivaru in the same way as ongietan corresponds to andgiet ;
and the frequent OE form andswarian is a blending of the
original verb and andswarian or andsivaru.
1564. Conversely, in a noun formed from a verb the verb-
prefix is preserved unchanged, as in afiesednes ' redemption/
literally ' loosenedness/ from d'lusan ' release/ ' redeem/
It sometimes happens that a noun which originally had a
strong prefix takes the corresponding weak one by the influence
of a verb of similar meaning. Thus bigang is often made into
be'gang by the influence of be'gan.
1565. In some cases older distinctions between the strongand
weak forms of prefixes have been levelled. Thus the weak
for- in for' don ' destroy/ forweorfran ' perish ' appears in the
earliest OE asy£r- (ferdon),for- being then used only as
the corresponding strong form in such nouns as 'forwyrd
1 destruction/ from which it was gradually extended to verb-
forms. So also the weak to- in td'brecan ' break to pieces '
is represented by /<?- in earlier OE (te'brecari). Its strong
form was originally *tor-9 parallel to the strong for- ; tor-
was made into to- by contraction, and then extended to the
weak forms.
1566. In the case of these two prefixes the weak stress was
kept in the originally weak forms in spite of the adoption of
the strong forms. But in some cases the prefix not only
kept its strong form when transferred to a verb, but also its
eg 2
452 ACCIDENCE. [§1567.
strong stress ; thus the prefix mis- has strong stress in 'misdon
as well as in mi'sddd.
1567. The prefix ge-) on the other hand, always has weak
stress, not only before verbs, as in ge'seon ' to see/ but also
in nouns, such as ge'sihp ' sight/ where it originally had a
strong form *ga-t *gea- with strong stress.
1568. Prefixes to pronouns and particles are sometimes
weak, sometimes strong.
The following are the most important of the OE prefixes,
the strong being marked (•).
1569. a-. This prefix, whose strong form is or- (1562),
is cognate with the German er-, as in erlauben l allow,' strong
ur-y as in 'urlaub, the noun corresponding to erlauben. Its
original meaning was ' out/ ' from/ ' forth/ which may still
be traced in such verbs as arisan 'arise/ dwacan 'awake'
(German erwachen)t while in many cases it is practically
unmeaning — or, at most, emphatic — as in dberan 'carry/
' endure/ dbysgian ' occupy ' \bystg ' busy '].
1570. -a- is a shorter form of dwa 'always/ It is a
strong prefix which is used only with pronouns and particles
to give them an indefinite meaning, as in dhwceper ' either of
two/ dhw<zr 'anywhere/ from hwafier 'which of the two?'
and kw&r ' where ? '
1571. 'ceg- was originally d ' always ' followed by the prefix
ge- in its older form gi- (1574), whose i mutated the pre-
ceding d into d, and was then dropped, giving dg-. The
d in this prefix served merely to emphasize and generalize
the collective meaning of the ge-, so that dg- is equivalent
to ' all ' or ' every/ as in 'ceghwcp.fier ' each of two/ ceghw&r
' everywhere/
1572. be- has bt- for its strong form. It is the same word
as the preposition be ' by/ whose strong form is the adverb b i
' by/ As be and bi are therefore still independent words, began,
ligang, etc., may be regarded as compounds rather than deri-
§1576.] NATIVE PREFIXES, 453
vatives. But the prefixes be-, bi- have diverged so much in
meaning from the independent words be, bi, that from an
unhistorical point of view the two pairs have no connection
with one another. Thus as prefixes be- and bi- preserve the
meaning ' around/ kept also in Greek amphi-, which repre-
sents the fuller Arian form of which bi is a shortening. This
primitive meaning is seen in bzgang, began, in which ' going
round' developed into the meanings 'worship,' 'cultivate.'
The most general function of be- is to specialize the meaning
of transitive verbs, as in behon ' hang with,' besgtlan ' beset,'
and to make an intransitive verb transitive, as in bewepan
' bewail,' bepgncan ' consider ' from wepan ' weep/ fyncan
' think.' In some cases it is privative,. as in beniman 'deprive'
\niman ' take '], beheafdian ' behead/
1573. for, earliery^r-, strong for- (1565) is quite distinct
from the preposition for ; it expresses destruction, loss, etc.,
as in fordon ' destroy/ forweorfran ' perish ' from don ' do/
weorpan ' become/ originally ' turn ' [compare Latin vertere\
being sometimes only intensitive, as in forb&rnan ' burn up/
1574. ge-, which is prefixed equally to verbs, nouns,
adjectives, pronouns, and particles, has primarily a collective
meaning, as in gefera ' companion/ originally ' fellow travel-
ler/ from for 'journey' [far an, 'go/ ' travel '], gebrofim
' brothers ' [brofior, ' brother '], gehwd ' each one ' from hwa
' who?', being cognate with the Latin cum 'with/ It is often
only intensitive, and often practically unmeaning, as in
gemunan * remember/ gemynd ' memory/ ' mind.' As a pre-
fix to the preterite participle of verbs,, as in gebunden ' bound/
it is really a grammatical inflection (74).
1575. -mis- is a prefix both to verbs and nouns, as in
mislician ' displease/ misd&d ' misdeed.'
1576. of- is cognate with the preposition and adverb of
' off, of.' The strong form &f- (1562) is of rare occurrence ;
in such words as 'of spring * progeny/ it has been supplanted
by the weak form. In this word the original meaning of the
454 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1577.
prefix has been preserved, but in most cases it is only inten-
sitive, as in ofstian 'kill' [slean 'strike'], or unmeaning, as
in the preterite participle ofpyrsted ' thirsty.'
1577. on-, strong and- (1562), is represented in German
by ent-, em' p}-, strong ant-, as in emp'fangen ' receive ' = OE
on'fon, 'ant-wort ' answer/ with which compare OE and-wyrdc
1 answer,' literally ' against-wording/ where it still preserves
its original meaning of ' against/ being cognate with the
Greek anti ' against.' In some words it expresses ' separa-
tion/ 'change/ as in onbindan 'unbind/ onlucan 'unlock/
' open/ onwgndan ' overturn/ ' change to the worse/ In
many words it is unmeaning, as in ondr&dan ' dread/ ongin-
nan 'begin/
1578. ^-derivatives such as the above must be carefully
distinguished from compounds with the preposition or adverb
on ' on/ such as -on-winnan 'make war on/ 'assail/ ongean
1 against ' [Modern German entgegen-=. older German engegen,
ingegin owes its ent- to confusion with the prefix en/-].
1579. to-, earlier /<?-, strong to- (1565), is represented in
German by zer-, as in ier6r«f&*ssOE tobrecan 'break to
pieces/ zertheilen=OE tod&lan 'distribute' [dcel 'portion/
' share ']. This prefix always keeps its original meaning of
* separation/ ' destruction/ and is thus easily distinguished
from compounds with the preposition to ' to/ such as -tdcyme
1 arrival ' [cyme ' coming '], td'gcedre ' together/
1580. -Tin- 'un-' is a prefix to nouns, adjectives, and
secondary adverbs, and is generally purely negative, though
sometimes intensitive in the sense of ' bad ' : und&d ' wicked
deed/ ' crime/ uncup 'unknown/ unsofte 'un gently/ 'severely/
1581. *wan- 'un-' \wana adjective 'wanting/ wanian
' curtail/ ' wane '] is prefixed to adjectives, as in wanhdl ' un-
healthy ' [hal ' whole/ ' sound '].
1582. In ME ge- was weakened to *'-, as in t'vere, ibunde(n\
It soon began to be dropped in the North-Thames dialects,
as in Re ' like ' = South-Thames ifah, OE gelic. In Standard
§1584.] NATIVE PREFIXES. 455
ME the grammatical i- is sometimes kept, sometimes not
—being generally dropped, as in fere, kinde=QE gefera
1 companion/ gecynd fern. ' kind/ ' nature/ gecynde ' natural/
The prefix seems to have been preserved in poetry for
the sake of the metre after it had become extinct in the
spoken language. But it has been kept to the present day
in enough = ME i/id/i, OE genog, handiwork (1551. 2), and
in the obsolete j>wis=O~Egt:wiss 'certain' — sometimes made
into a verb (1486. i), and in .the preterite participles yclept
= OE gecleopod ' called/ yclad. Also through confusion with
every in everywhere from OE *afre gehw&r.
alike must be referred to the OE onlic, which had the same
meaning as geltc.
1583. In ME the prepositions 0/"and on were liable to be
weakened into a (1505). The same change took place with
the prefixes of- and on-, and as OE a- was shortened to a-,
all three prefixes were often levelled under one form. This
levelling was helped by the fact that already in OE there was
a certain confusion between these prefixes through the vague-
ness of their meanings in many words. Thus we find in OE
dbtdan, onbldan ' await/ onwacan and awacan ' awake/ ondrd-
dan ' fear/ ofdr&dd pret. partic. ' afraid/ the difference of
meaning being often very slight in other cases, as in asgndan
' send/ onsgndan ' send forth/ agiefan ' render/ ofgiefan ' re-
linquish/ of- was preserved in of spring through its strong
stress. So also and- in andsware, answare. Towards the
end of the ME period the prefix a- was dropped in many
words, partly through its vagueness of meaning, partly
through its indistinctness of sound. It is now preserved
only in a few words, such as arise, awake, awaken = QTL
arisan, awacan, aw&cnian, acknowledge ^=ME akngu/j>chen> to
which corresponds OE oncnawan. ashamed=Q5L o/sceamod,
afa'de=QE onbldan 'wait/ and the obsolete athirst=.GE
offiyrsted.
1584. But those verbs in on- which expressed a definite
456 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1585.
reversal of the meaning of the verbs they were formed from,
such as onbindan, saved their prefixes from being weakened
into the ambiguous a- by identifying it with the almost
synonymous noun- and adjective-prefix un-, whence the
MnE unbind, unlock, and many new-formations — from French
as well as English verbs — such as unsettle, unhook, unarm,
unchain.
1585. to- was preserved in ME, as in tobreken, torenden,
but has become obsolete in MnE, though the Bible still has
all tobrake his scull, where all is adverbial.
1586. for- is still preserved in MnE, as in forbid, forswear,
forlorn=GE forloren, preterite participle of/orleosan 'lose';
but many of the ME derivatives have become obsolete, and
for- is no longer a living prefix. In forego— OE f organ ' go
without/ ' forego ' the prefix has been confused with the
separable prefix or adverb f ore =Qi5L fore 'before.'
1587. The mainly noun- and adjective prefixes mis- and
un- are still living prefixes, being freely used to form new
derivatives, such as misadventure, misrepresent, unrest, un-
limited, unchain.
1588. The only old verb-prefix that can be regarded as
still living is be-, with which an immense number of new
verbs have been formed in MnE as well as ME. Many of
these have been formed directly from nouns — French as well
as English — such as befriend, benighted, besiege. The noun
byword still keeps the strong form, being formed on the
analogy of ME bispel— OE blspell ' parable ' ; but such nouns
as bystreet, bystander, may be regarded rather as compounds
with the adverb bi. Some nouns have taken be- from the
corresponding verbs, such as belief ==OE gelcafa, the cor-
responding verb being believe =Q1?. gefief an, Late OE belief an.
SUFFIXES.
1589. Of the OE endings some, which contained i or j
in Germanic, cause mutation of the preceding vowel, as in
gylden ' golden.' When the same ending sometimes mutates,
§1592.] NATIVE SUFFIXES. 457
sometimes not, the mutated forms are generally the original
ones, the unmutated forms being the result of later influence
of the unmutated word from which the derivative was formed.
Thus beren ' belonging to a bear '—earlier biren owes its e to
the influence of the noun bera ' bear.'
Noun-forming.
(a) Concrete.
1590. -cen is a diminutive neuter ending, which, although
preserved only in a very few words, such as tyncen from
tunne 'tun/ 'cask/ was no doubt in common use in the
spoken language. It is an extension of the originally dimi-
nutive ending -en in mcegden. In ME and MnE it appears
in the form of -kin, -ikin, whose full vowel and k instead
of ch is probably the result of the influence of the French
-quin, itself of Low German origin. Thus manikin 'dwarf
is the French mannequin, which is itself a Low-German
diminutive of man. Other examples are lambkin, napkin
[French nappe 'tablecloth'], canakin, kilderkin. In bumpkin
the meaning smallness passes over into that of contempt.
In ME this ending was freely used to form nicknames from
proper names, many of which afterwards became surnames :
Wilekin, Wilkin from William., whence the MnE Wilkinson,
which was again shortened to Wilkins, Perkin, shortened from
Peterkin, Halkin, whence by phonetic spelling Hawkin(s),
from Hal, a child's mispronunciation of Harry^Henry.
1591. -end '-er' is the noun-form of the present par-
ticiple ending -ende, and forms nouns denoting agents from
verbs, such as hcclend ' healer/ ' Saviour/ sceotend ' shooter/
' warrior/ It became extinct in ME, its place being supplied
by the ending -ere. But it still survives disguised \nfriend=.
OE freond literally 'lover/ and Jiend=Ol£ feond 'enemy/
literally 'hater/
1592. -ere, -sere, masc. '-er* forms agent-denoting nouns
from verbs : binder e ' binder/ fiscere ' fisher/ leornere ' learner/
458 ACCIDENCE. [§1593-
goihpellere * evangelist ' from the verbs bindan, fiscian, leornian,
godspellian. It will be observed that of these verbs two are
formed directly from nouns— fiscian from fisc, godspellian
from godspell — originally godspell ' good tidings ' — while leor-
nere is associated in meaning with the noun leornung. bdcere
'scribe' seems, indeed, to be formed directly from boc on
the model of the Latin librarius. In ME the d in the
form -dre was shortened, and underwent the regular change
into a, so that in Early ME we find such forms zsfischare by
the side of fischere. In Late ME there was a good deal of
confusion between these endings and the French and Latin
endings -er, -ier, -eer, -our, -or, which often had the same
meanings as the native ending (1685). This confusion was
increased in Early MnE by the levelling of -er, -ar, -or, etc.
under (ar) [859]. Hence such forms as /z<7r=OE leogere,
sailor compared with a fast sailer [OE seglan ' sail '].
1593. -estre fern. ' -ess ' : bacestre ' female baker ' [bcecere
'baker'], t&ppestre 'female tapster/ witegestre 'prophetess'
\wltega ' prophet ']. In ME this ending, being unstrest,
soon lost its final e, and the resulting -ster came to be re-
garded as an emphatic form of -er, and consequently was
applied to men as well as women, so that the Early ME
feminines bakstere, tappistere developed into the Late ME
masculines baxter, tapster. Many of these trade-names in
-ster survive only as proper names, such as Baxter, Brewster,
Webster. In MnE this ending is also used to express ' one
who does a thing habitually,' generally with an implication
of contempt, as in punster, trickster. The only noun in -ster
which is still distinctly feminine is spinster, which has, how-
ever, lost its meaning of ' female spinner,' being now used
only in that of ' unmarried woman/
1594. -ing masc. : earming 'poor wretch* [earm 'poor'],
filling ' little one ' \lytel ' little ']. The late OE nixing
' coward,' ' object of contempt,' is probably of Scandinavian
origin (Icelandic nifiitngr}. This ending is specially used to
§ 1 597-1 NATIVE SUFFIXES. 459
form patronymics, such as cepeling ' son of a noble,' 'prince'
from cfpele 'noble/ 'aristocratic/ cyning 'king/ literally 'son
of a king/ the underived cyne being preserved only in
compounds such as cynehelm 'crown/ literally 'king-helm/
These patronymics are formed freely from personal names :
Scielding, JSfoelwulfing, E Using 'son of Elisha/ Many of
them are preserved as proper names, such as Manning,
Harding, especially in place-names, such as Billingsgate,
Islington, Reading, so called from the clans of the Billingas
1 sons of Bill ' etc.
This ending is also found in names of animals, as in hcering
' herring,' and in names of things, especially coins, such as
settling, pgning, feorf)ing{feor})ung,feorpling] ' farthing/ literally
' fourth part (of & pgning] ' irwsxifeorpa ' fourth.'
1595. -ling masc. in OE generally expresses affection,
familiarity, or contempt : deorling ' favourite/ from deore
1 dear/ ' precious/ ME derling, MnE darling, fosterling
' foster-child/ hyrling ' hireling/ underling. There are many
others in MnE, some of which may be of OE origin, such as
foundling, others being new-formations, such as starveling,
worldling, nurseling, changeling. This suffix is frequent in
names of animals, generally expressing youth or smallness,
as in youngling ' young animal/ also used in the sense of
' young human being/ yearling, nestling, duckling, gosling.
Some of these may be of OE origin.
1596. -en fern, with mutation: gyden ' goddess/ fyxen
' vixen ' from god, fox.
This ending has, besides, a variety of meanings. It is diminu-
tive in mcegden, and in the compound ending -cen (1590) ; and
occurs, interchanging with -on, -n, in a number of words without
showing any definite meaning, as in heofen 'heaven,' nuegen
' power,' pegen, pegn 'retainer/ 'nobleman.'
(b) Abstract.
1597. -nis's). -nes(s) fern, is the regular ending for form-
ing abstract nouns from adjectives : godm's ' goodness/
460 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1598.
gelunis ' likeness/ bcorhtnis ' brightness.' This ending is
still in living use in MnE, being added to foreign as well as
native adjectives, as in closeness, graciousness, although many
of these do not take it because they are already provided with
corresponding abstract nouns of foreign formation ; thus to
possible corresponds possibility, to charitable, charity, to medi-
ocre, mediocrity, although such derivatives as inevitableness are
freely formed whenever it is found convenient.
Words in -ness only rarely take concrete meanings, as in
witness, wilderness.
1598. -u fern, with mutation forms abstract nouns from
adjectives : Igngu ( length/ strgngu ' strength/ br&du ' breadth/
hcelu ' salvation/ hcetu ' heat/ ieldu ' old age/ archaic MnE
eld, wrai£>(J>}u 'anger,' ME wrapfie, MnE wrath, from the
adjectives lang, strang, brad, hal ' sound/ hat, eald, wrap.
1599. -uj>, -]> fern, with and without mutation: treow}>
' fidelity/ }>iefl> ' theft/ ME J>e/j>e, pefte, from ireowe ' faithful/
peof thief/ sl&wp ' sloth/ which in ME became slgupe by the
influence of the adjective from which it was formed, namely
OE slaw, ME slgw ' indolent.' Togeogufi ' youth ' corresponds
the adjective geong 'young/ In ME the ending -fie=OE
-/was substituted for the equivalent -*=OE -u, as being
more distinct, whence the MnE length, strength, breadth, health
= ME lengfre, OE lengu, etc. Similarly OE dlepe from deop
1 deep ' has become depth. So also ME wele, MnE weal=
OE wela ' prosperity/ ' wealth/ has developed a secondary
form wealth on the analogy of health. In ME and MnE
some new derivatives in -th have been formed, not only from
adjectives, as in warmth, dearth, but also directly from verbs,
as in growth, stealth, the latter on the analogy of ME frefpe
'theft/
1600. -ting, -ing, fern, forms abstract nouns from verbs :
Jletsung ( blessing/ gegndung ' ending/ £ end/ leornung, hom-
ing ' learning/ r&ding ' reading/ from the verbs bletsian,
§ i6o2.] NATIVE SUFFIXES. 461
gegndian, teorm'an, r&dan (weak verb). In OE this ending is
restricted in its use, and is very rarely used to form deriva-
tives from strong verbs because these are generally provided
with other derivatives, such as cyme ' coming/ gang ' going '
corresponding to the strong verbs curnan, gdn. In ME
the use of -inge, -ing was so much extended that at last
abstract nouns could be formed with it from any verb, till it
finally developed into a purely grammatical form — the gerund
(1257). In MnE many words in -ing have assumed con-
crete meanings, such as being—' creature.' In most cases these
concrete words in -ing express either the result of the action
expressed by the verb, as in building ' what is built/ ' edifice/
dripping, leavings, or the instrument of the action of the verb,
as in clothing, covering, wrapping, footing 'ground to put the
foot on/ In some words -ing has a collective meaning, as in
paling, shipping. Some of these words, such as shipping,
shirting, seem to be formed directly from nouns. This pro-
bably arose from the ambiguity of such words as flooring,
which might be referred either to the noun floor or the verb
to floor.
The following endings were originally independent words
in OE itself:—
1601. -dom masc. is from the noun dom ' judgment/
' authority/ and expresses first * rank/ and then — especially
in combination with adjectives — condition generally : cynedom
' royal authority/ * kingdom/ king having been substituted for
the less familiar cyne (1594) in ME, biscopdom ' bishopric '
[-rz<r=OE rue 'government/ 'kingdom'], martyrdom, cris-
tendom, freodom ' freedom/ wisdom. In MnE there are a
few new-formations, such as dukedom. Christendom and
heathendom have now become concrete. In OE itself Idcedom
' medicine ' from Idte ' leech/ ' physician ' had a concrete
meaning.
1602. -had masc. from the noun had ' rank/ ' condition/
462 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1603.
* character/ ' nature ' : biscophad ' rank of bishop/ ' episcopacy/
preosthdd ' priesthood/ cildhdd, mce.gfrhad ' virginity/ the more
familiar mcrgden being substituted for mcegp' virgin/ ' maid 'in
the ME maidenhdd. widwan-hdd 'widowhood' is really a
group-compound of had and the genitive of the weak noun
widwe. In ME this ending became -hdd\\\ti\ close 5 instead of
£ whence the MnE -hood\ this change cannot well be organic,
and maybe due to the combined influence Qi-dom and the noun
hod1 hood.' The frequent ME form -hjde, -hjdis the result of
the influence of another ending of similar meaning, namely -rjde
from OE -r&den (1604), the form -hode being another result
of these blendihgs. In OE -had is used only with nouns, but
its ME and MnE representatives form derivatives from adjec-
tives also, such as hardihood, likelihood, falsehood. Many of
the derivatives from nouns have taken concrete — mostly col-
lective— meanings, as in priesthood and the new -formations
brotherhood, neighbourhood. The ME form -hjde is now
almost extinct, surviving only in maidenhead and Godhead,
such Early MnE forms as lustihead being now obsolete.
1603. -lac neut. from the noun lac, whose ordinary mean-
ing is ' gift/ but which shows traces of the older meanings
* game/ ' fight/ ' action in general/ agreeing with those of the
verb lacan ' play ' etc. : reafiac ' robbery ' [reafian ' plunder 'J,
scinlac ' phantasm/ ' delirium/ ' fury ' \scin ' phantasm/
' ghost ' from scman ' shine/ ' appear '], wgdlac ' marriage '
[wgdd 'pledge/ 'contract7]. This ending survives only in
wedlock, whose o is the ME g shortened.
1604. -rseden fern., gen. -radenne, from the noun r&den
' regulation/ ' agreement ' [connected with geradan ' put in
order/ ' arrange ' and the MnE ready] : geferr&den ' fellow-
ship/ ' agreement,' freondrceden ' relationship/ ' friendship/
mannrcBden ' allegiance,' teonr&den ' injury ' \teona ' insult/
'injury']. In OE this ending was applied only to nouns.
ME keeps many of the OE derivatives, frendrjde, sibrjde
' relationship ' = OE sibbr&den, and on the analogy of these
§ 1607.] NATIVE SUFFIXES. 463
forms the new derivative hater -/de, hatrjde ' hatred ' [ME hate
is a blending of the OE noun h$te ' violence/ ' hostility ' and
the corresponding verb hatiari]. The analogy of sibrjde, etc.
also led to the ME change of OE cynren ' line of descendants,'
' family ' — which is a shortening of *cynn-ryne ' kin-course '
\iyne, 'running/ 'course/ connected with iernan 'run']—
into kinrjde, whence, by the usual insertion of d (821), the
MnE kindred.
1605. -scipe masc. '-ship/ from a lost noun connected with
the verb scieppan ' shape/ ' create ' : hid/or dscipe - lordship '
' authority ' freondscipe, weorfiscipe 'honour' \weor}> noun and
adjective ' worth/ ' worthy ']. Concrete in gebeorscipe ' con-
vivial meeting/ ' banquet ' from gebeora ' boon-companion/
literally ' fellow-beerdrinker ' [^-collective + beor ' beer '] and
some others. This ending is frequently used in MnE to
form new derivatives, especially from personal words, as in
ownership, consulship, relationship. In OE it is used to form
derivatives almost exclusively from nouns, but in MnE we
have such derivatives as hardship, courtship from the adjective
hard and the verb to court. Landscape — of which the older
spelling was landslip — was introduced into English in the
1 7th century from Dutch, where landschap (lantsxap) 'pro-
vince/ ' country ' came to be used by painters as a technical
term to express the background in a painting, in which sense
it came into English, the ending being at first blended with
-ship into -skip.
Adjective-forming.
1606. -ede forms compound adjectives from names of
parts of the body preceded by a modifying word : sureagede
' blear-eyed/ literally 4 sour-eyed/ micelhea/dedc ' big-headed/
firiheafdede ' three-headed.' In MnE this ending has been
necessarily shortened to -«/, and so has become indistinguish-
able from the preterite participle inflection.
1607. -en with mutation generally denotes material, being
464 ACCIDENCE, [§ 1608.
also used in the more general sense of * belonging to ' : ad en
' of oak ' \ac ' oak '], gylden ' golden/ wyllen ' woollen ' \wulle
1 wool '], stcenen l of stone/ h&pen ' heathen ' \h&J> ' heath '],
In beren from bera ' bear/ as in beren fell ' a bear's skin/
earlier biren, the e has been brought in from the noun ; so
also in leaden ' leaden ' [lead ' lead ']. In MnE these adjec-
tives restore the unmutated vowel everywhere, as in golden,
woollen, on the analogy of which new derivatives had been
formed, such as wooden, hempen. In MnE the simple nouns
are generally used instead of the material adjectives in -en, as
in gold watch, stone wall, the full forms being used only in
special meanings, as in golden hair, although we still use
wooden, woollen etc. as material adjectives. The similarity of
meaning between material nouns and adjectives (155) has
in some cases led to the conversion of adjectives in -en into
nouns, as in tinen=OE linen ' flaxen ' from lin ' flax/ and the
tree names asptn^QTLaspe, lmden=OE lind fern. \linde(n)tre
passed through llndetre into Imtre in ME, whence the Early
MnE linetree, now hme-tree\.
Some adjectives in -en with mutation were originally pre-
terite participles of strong verbs: druncen 'intoxicated/ agen
1 own/ fcEgen ' glad/ whence MnE fain, from drincan, agan
( possess/ gefeon 'rejoice/ the strong verb corresponding to
open ' open ' being lost.
1608. -ig ' y- ' corresponds sometimes to Germanic -ig, -ig,
sometimes to Germanic -ag, etc., causing mutation in the
former case, but not in the latter : halig ' holy ' [hal ' entire/
'sound'], modig 'proud/ mistig 'misty/ isig 'icy'; hejig
'heavy' [connected with hgbban, preterite participle ha/en,
' lift'], bysig 'busy/ dysig 'foolish/ whence MnE dizzy. In
MnE this ending has been widely extended, and in many
words it has taken the place of the material -en, as in fiery—
OE fyren \fyr ' fire '], clayey, gluey, where the Early MnE
spelling -ey is preserved, as it regularly is after vowels.
-ig is also a noun-ending, as in bodig ' body/ ifig '' ivy/ hunig
§ i6io.] DERIVATION ; NATIVE SUFFIXES. 465
' honey/ The final -y with which nouns are made into diminu-
tives or words of contempt in MnE seems to be this ending :
ptippy, baby from pup, babe, dummy, formed from dumb after
the b had become silent, Billy from Bill= William, Betty,
Betsy, Lizzie, all three from Elizabeth, and many other familiar
names, the earlier spelling -ie being kept in some of the female
names.
1609. -isc ' -ish ' with mutation — which is sometimes got
rid of by the influence of the underived word — is most fre-
quently used to form names of nations, but also in derivatives
from common nouns : gnglisc, Premise ' French ' \Frandand
' land of the Franks/ ' France '], Scyttisc ' Scotch ' [Scot/land,
'Ireland/ afterwards 'Scotland'], W^lisc 'Welsh'; cierlisce
mgnn ' serfs ' [ceorl ' serf '], mgnnisc ' human, '/Wr/itf ' popular/
' vulgar/ In ME some of the names of nations were con-
tracted by omission of the vowel of the ending, whence the
MnE French, Scotch by the side of the fuller Scottish, in both
of which the unmutated vowel has been restored by the influ-
ence of Scot, Scotland. So also Welsh, the unmutated
vowel of ME Walsch — due to the influence of Wales =OE
Wealas 'Welshmen' — being preserved only in the proper
name' Walsh. In the other words formed from nouns -ish
generally expresses contempt, as in mannish, womanish
compared with manly, womanly, childish compared with
childlike, brutish, swinish, uppish. Such adjectives as
bookish, roguish, in which there is no depreciation implied,
tend to become obsolete, -ish added to an adjective ex-
presses simple diminution, as in oldish, youngish, sweetish,
longishy especially with names of colours, such as reddish,
yellowish.
1610. -sum '-some' forms adjectives from nouns, ad-
jectives, and verbs: sibbsum 'peaceful/ wynsum 'pleasant.'
\wynn ' joy '] ; langsum ' tedious ' ; hiersum ' obedient ' \hieran
' hear/ ' obey ']. There are many ME and MnE new-forma-
tions : burdensome, handsome, troublesome ; wholesome, weari-
some ; buxom, ME buhswn, formed from the OE verb bugan
VOL. i, H h
466 ACCIDENCE. [§1611.
' bow/ ' bend/ the original meaning of the adjective being
' pliable/ ' goodnatured.'
The following endings were independent words in Ger-
manic : —
1611. -feald ' -fold ' [Compare the verb fealdan ' fold ']
forms adjectives from adjective-words, especially numerals :
manigfeald ' manifold/ ' various/ seofonfeald, hundfeald,
' hundredfold/
1612. -full ' -fill/ sometimes weakened to -fol, from the
adjective full ' full/ forms adjectives from abstract nouns :
carfull ' careful/ sorgfull l sorrowful/ synnfull « sinful/ There
are numerous new-formations in ME and MnE — some from
concrete nouns: artful, powerful, fruitful, masterful In
Present English this ending is shortened to (-fl), by which
it is distinguished from the compounds handfull (haendful),
spoonfull etc.
1613. -leas '-less* from the adjective leas 'deprived of/
' without ' [Compare forleosan ' lose '] forms adjectives from
nouns and verbs : drleas ' without honour/ ' wicked/ geleafleas
1 unbelieving/ ' sl&pleas ' sleepless ' ; giemeleas ' careless/
rgcceleas ' careless/ from gieman ' take care of/ rgccan ' reck/
From -leas abstract nouns in -least are formed, where the
t=J) (767), such as slapleast ' sleeplessness/ In ME
this ending appears both as -Ijs and as -les with the vowel
shortened, which may be due to the influence of lesse ' less/
It is frequently used in new-formations, such as fearless,
useless.
1614. -lie ' -ly ' : eorfihc ' earthly/ wiflic ' feminine/
cynelic ' royal/ freondlic ' friendly/ gearlic ' annual/ These
derivatives were originally conversion-compounds with lie
' body/ the weak vowel being afterwards shortened, so that
wiflic '; for instance, meant originally ' having the body or
form of a woman ' (1546). Derivatives in -lie from adjectives
and adverbs are less frequent : godlic ' pleasant/ deadlic
§i6i8.] DERIVATION; NATIVE SUFFIXES. 467
' mortal/ lafilic ' hateful/ anlic ' unique ' [from an ' one/
with exceptional mutation], upltc, upplic 'sublime/ This
ending is freely used in new-formations in ME and MnE, as
in princely, quarterly, sickly.
1615, -weard, ' -ward/ from an obsolete adjective con-
nected with weorj>an=. Latin verier e, forms adjectives from
nouns, adjectives, and adverbs : hamweard, middeweard, inne-
weard from ham ( home/ midde ' middle ' adj., inne ' within/
Verb-forming.
1616. -na is a Scandinavian suffix forming weak intransi-
tive verbs, mostly inchoative, from verb roots and adjectives,
as in Icelandic brotna, * get broken/ connected with brjola
'break' (pret. partic. 3r0/*»#)=QE breotan (pret. partic.
broten], hv'itna ' become white/ harpna ' become hard/ Many
of these verbs were imported in ME, such as harpna, which
became hardnen by the influence of the ME adjective hard.
There have been many new-formations in ME and MnE,
some from adjectives, such as gladden, redden, some from
nouns, such as frighten [OE fyrhtu ' fear '], lengthen. In
English these verbs are used transitively as well as intransi-
tively.
The native verbs awaken, fasten are not formed direct from
wake and fast, but the OE weak verbs awcecnian, fcestnian are
formed from the nouns wcecen 'watching,' fasten ''fastness/
' fort/ which are, of course, derivatives of wacan ' wake ' and
fast* fast/ 'firm.'
1617. -sian with mutation : cl&nsian ' cleanse/ blcedst'an,
bletsian ' bless/ from blod ' blood/ with shortening of the ce,
the original meaning being ' to sprinkle (the altar) with
blood/ In Scandinavian this ending appears as -sa, as in
hreinsa l purify ' \hreinn ' pure '], whence our rinse.
1618. -leecan from lac (1603) : genealcecan ' approach '
from neah 'near/ geryhtlcccan 'correct.' In ME a new
H h 2
ACCIDENCE. [§1619.
verb cnjiilfeken was formed with this ending from OE cnawan
' know,' whence in Late ME a noun cngnleche was formed,
which, by the change of weak ch into (65) gave MnE
knowledge.
Foreign Elements.
1619. The foreign derivative elements in English are
mainly of French, Latin, and Greek origin. Many which
were at first introduced into English in their popular French
forms were afterwards Latinized, at first in spelling only, but
afterwards, in many cases, in pronunciation also. In some
cases they were wholly or partially Latinized in French itself,
though sometimes — in Late Old French — in spelling only.
In some cases false etymological spellings of derivative ele-
ments of Latin origin were introduced either in French or
English, some of which have corrupted the pronunciation.
1620. Although foreign derivatives are often so disguised
as no longer to be recognizable as derivatives, yet many
foreign derivative elements have remained as distinct as the
native ones. Many of them are freely used to form new
derivatives from words of native as well as foreign origin.
Some of them are even detached and used as independent
words, such as extra.
PREFIXES.
1621. In Latin many of the prefixes are liable to various
changes according to the nature of the initial consonants of
the word they modify, the full form of a prefix ending in
consonants being generally preserved before a vowel, while
before consonants the final consonants of the prefix are
liable to assimilation and loss; and these variations have
generally been preserved when the words containing them
were imported into French and English.
1622. The foreign prefixes will now be treated of in their
alphabetical order. Specially French prefixes are marked *,
§ 1624.] DERIVATION ; FOREIGN PREFIXES. 469
Greek prefixes are marked f, Latin prefixes being left
unmarked.
1623. ab-, abs-, a-, ' from, away ' : ab-er ration, ab-hort
ab-rupt ; abs-cond, abs-tinent ; a-vert. The above are formed
from verb-roots, abnormis, which in English was made into
abnormal on the analogy of the Latin adj. nor malts, is an
example of an ^-derivative from a noun — Latin norma ' pat-
tern/ All the above words were taken directly from Latin or
from learned French. In popular French ab- became av-, but
the Latin form was generally restored, as in abus from abusum,
whence MnE abuse. But Latin ab-b- was shortened, as in
abregier from Latin abbrevidre, whence MnE abridge, of which
MnE abbreviate is a learned doublet, taken direct from Latin.
1624. ad-, a-, also in the assimilated forms ag-, af- etc.,
according to the consonant that follows, ' to.' In Old French
this prefix was shortened to #-, not only before consonants,
as in aventure ' adventure ' from Latin res adventura ' a thing
about to happen/ but also before vowels, as in aourner
1 adorn ' from Latin adorndre. The double consonants in
such Latin words as aggravdre, assen/dre=adgravdre, ad-
sentdre were shortened both in pronunciation and writing in
Old French— agrever, asenter — double f being, however,
often kept (assenter) to show that the s was pronounced (s)
and not (z). But in Late Old French the d was often intro-
duced again by the influence of the Latin orthography,
whence the spellings adventure, adorner etc., the latter word
being at the same time Latinized in its vowel. Hence many
of these words appear in ME in a variety of forms, one, of
early introduction, pure Old French, the other or others
more or less Latinized, while in some cases the Latinized form
does not appear till after the ME period. Thus in ME we
have aventure and a contracted form aunter, in Early MnE
adventer, which in the Present English has been further
Latinized into adventure', while the Latinized adornen ap-
pears already in ME by the side of the pure French
470 ACCIDENCE. [§1625.
form aurnen, there being also a blending adurnen. The
double consonants were restored in the same way, some-
times in ME, but generally not till later; thus we have
ME agreven, asenten (also assen/en) = MnE aggrieve, assent.
Sometimes the prefix a- was made into ad- from a mistaken
etymology, as in advance, advantage =W£ avancen, avantage,
Old French avancer being a verb formed from the particle
avan^L&tm *ab-ante.
1625. amb-, am-, an-, ' around ' : amb-ition ; am-putate,
per-am-bulate ; an-cipital ' two-headed/ ' doubtful/
1626. famphi- 'around': amphi-bious, amphi-theatre.
1627. fan- before vowels and h + vowel, a- before other
consonants, 'un-': an-archy [compare mon-archy], an-
hydrous ' without water ' ; a-theist, a-tom literally ' uncut/
' indivisible/
1628. fana- ' up/ ' again/ ' apart/ ' according to/ < re-
versal ' etc. : ana-thema, originally ( thing put up or dedi-
cated/ ana-baptist, ' re-baptist/ ana-tomy literally ' cutting up/
ana-logy ' according to proportion/ ana-gram ' transposition
of letters/ ana-chronism.
1629. ante-, anti- ' before ' : ante-cedent, ante-diluvian ;
anti-cipate. Freely used in new-formations, such as ante-
chamber, anteroom, antedate.
1630. fanti- 'against': Anti-christ, antidote literally
'given against/ anti-pathy, anti-podes, anti-thesis. Freely
used in new-formations, such as anti-radical, anti-consti-
tutional, anti- Glads tone, anti- spasmodic.
1631. tapo-, before vowels ap-, before h aph-, the h itself
being dropped : ' from/ ' away/ ' forth ' etc. : apo-cope literally
1 cutting away/ apo-logy, apo-strophe literally ' turning away/
apo-stasy, aph-orisvi.
1632. bi- 'half/ 'twice': bi-ennial [compare annual~\,
bi-sect, bi-valve. bi-cycle is a newly formed hybrid from
Greek ktiklos ' circle/
1633. fcata-, cat-, cath-, ' down/ ' through ' etc. : cala-
§1637.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN PREFIXES. 471
ract, catastrophe, catalogue', cat-echize\ cath-edral, cath-
olic.
1634. circum-, circu- ' round ' : circum-navigate, circum-
scribe, circumstance, circumlocution, circumspect, circumvent ';
circu-itous.
1635. cis- 'on this side of: Cisalpine.
1636. com-, con-, co- ' with/ ' together/ being another
form of the preposition cum ' with ' ; often merely intensitive,
like the cognate OE ge-. In Old French the vowel of this
prefix was made into o through the influence of cum, which
was often lengthened in ME words taken from French,
whence the MnE (B, au) in comfort, council, counsel etc., the
(o) in such words as conduit, earlier MnE (kendit) being due
to the spelling. In Old French — as also occasionally in
Latin itself — the final consonant of this prefix was often
dropped before consonants, whence the MnE covent= convent
in Covent Garden [Latin conventio\, covenant. The following
are further examples of this prefix : combine, commit, compre-
hend, comfort [Old French comforter, conforter} ; confess, con-
vince, conclude, concern, conduct, contain ; co-agulate, coincide,
cohere ; col-league, connect, corrupt. This prefix is used in new-
formations, such as corn-mingle, compatriot, especially in the
form of co- : co-exist, co-operation, co-tenant. The predomi-
nance of the latter ending has led to the change of contempo-
rary into cotemporary ; but the former is now preferred, as
being nearer the Latin form.
1637. contra-, contro-, *counter- 'against/ originally
used only to form verbs. The Old-French form is cuntre-,
contre- with the o made into o on the analogy of Old French
com-, con-, out of which English counter- has developed in
the same way as in counsel etc. But in Old French contre-
was often made into contre- by the influence of the Latin
spelling. The Latin forms are less frequent than the French :
contradict, contravene, contra-st [French contrasler from *con-
tra-stare\, contraband [literally 'contrary to the proclama-
ACCIDENCE. [§1638.
tion '] ; controversy, controvert. The form counter- is used
not only in French words, such as counterfeit, countermand,
counterpart, counterpoise, but also in new-formations, such as
counter-attraction, counterbalance, counter-revolution, counter-
weigh, counter is also used as an independent adverb, as in
to run counter to, being partly the Old French adverb and
preposition centre, partly the detached prefix.
1638. de- is partly the Latin (and French) de ' from,'
' away/ also expressing ' difference,' ' negation/ ' completion/
being often only intensitive, which is both a preposition and
a prefix ; partly French des-, de- from Latin dis- ' asunder/
' apart/ which often develops the same negative meaning as
de-= Latin de-: degrade, derive, devious, literally 'out of the
path/ dethrone, devote, deny. de= Latin dis- (also di-, and
assimilated dif-) : defeat [Latin *disfacere, disfactum~\, defy
literally 'renounce faith/ delay [Latin dllatum~\, depart,
detach.
1639. *denr- ' half from Latin dimidium : demigod, demi-
semibreve. demy (di'mai) is used as an independent word.
1640. fdi- ' twice ' : digraph, di-phthong, dilemma, diploma.
The double ss in dissyllable was introduced in French through
confusion with the Latin prefix dis-.
1641. fdia-, di- ' through ' : diadem, diagnosis, diameter ;
diocese, diorama.
1642. dis, di-, assimilated dif- ' asunder/ ' apart/ ' pri-
vation/ 'negation/ The Old French form des- [Modern
French des-, de'-~] is still preserved in descant 'tune with
modulations/ In the other derivatives taken from Old
French the Latin dis- has been restored, as in dt'sarm = O\d
French desarmer, disappoint [compare Modern French de'sap-
pointer\, disdain [compare Modern French dedaigner\, dis-
honest, disease, distress [Latin *districtiare\. The following are
of direct Latin origin : discreet, dispute, dissolve, distant', dif-
ferent, difficult. The form di- is rare in words of French
introduction, such as diminish, and not very frequent in
§ 1649.] DERIVATION ; FORETGN PREFIXES. 473
words of Latin form : divide, dilate, digress, direct, divert,
dis- is freely used in new-formations, such as disconnect, dis-
inherit, disingenuous, being frequently added to English
words, as in disburden, disheartened, disown. In dislike-=
ME misliken it has been substituted for a similar-sounding
native prefix ; so also perhaps in disbelieve, distrust.
*en-, *em- ' in ' : see in-, im-.
1643. fen-, em-, assimilated el-, ' in ' : encyclopedia,
energy, enthusiasm ; emblem, embryo, emphasis, emporium ;
ellipse.
1644. fendo- ' within ' : endogamous ' marrying within
the tribe/ endogenous ' growing from within/
*enter- ' between ' ; see inter-.
1645. fepi-, ep-, eph- 'upon': epigram, epitaph, epi-
demic ; ephemeraL
1646. ex-, e-, assimilated ef- ' out of.' The Old French
form is es-, Modern French /-. es- has been preserved in
English only in a few obscured words, such as essay, escape.
Wherever the meaning of the prefix has been kept clear it
has been restored to its Latin form in English : exchange
from Old French eschangier, extend, extinguish. The other
Latin forms are seen in elegant, erect, evade ; efface, effect. As
jkr=z(ks), an initial s is often dropped after ex-, as in ex-pect
[compare re-speci\, exude, extirpate [from Latin suddre
'sweat/ stirps 'stem'], ex- is frequently used in new-
formations to express ' one out of office ' etc., as in ex-king,
ex-president, ex-secretary ; so also in the adjective ex-
official.
1647. fex-, ec- 'out of: exodus • ec-stasy.
1648. fexo- 'outside ' : exogavious ' marrying outside the
tribe/ exoteric 'suitable for outer world, for people in
general.'
1649. extra- 'beyond* is used in Latin chiefly with ad-
jectives : extramundane, extraordinary, extravagant', so also
in the new-formations extra-official, extra-parochial, extra
474 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1650.
by itself is used in English as an adjective and adverb, being
either the Latin adverb and preposition extra ' beyond/ or
else the detached prefix. Hence such combinations as extra
work, extra pay, extra careful, extra-superfine are not deri-
vatives, but word-groups or compounds.
1650. fhyper- * over/ ' beyond ' : hyperbole, hyperborean,
hypercritical.
1651. fhypo-, hyp-, hyph- ' under ' : hypodermic ' be-
longing to the parts under the skin/ hypocrite, hypothesis',
hyphen.
1652. in-, im-, in-, i-, assimilated il- etc. 'un-' — with
which it is cognate as well as with Greek an is joined to
adjectives and occasionally to nouns. The following are
examples of words which had this prefix in Latin itself:
insane [Latin msdnus], insipid, inestimable, injury, injustice',
impious, imbecile ; ignoble [Latin Ignobilis], ignorant ; illiberal,
immortal. In English this prefix is applied only to foreign
words of some length, as in inequality, injustice compared
with unequal, unjust. If new words are formed from foreign
words by means of English endings un- is prefixed, as in
ungrateful, undecided, compared with ingratitude, indecisive.
But un- is also prefixed to some words with exceptionally
familiar Latin endings such as -able, as in uneatable, uncon-
querable compared with intolerable, invincible.
1653. in-, im-, il-, etc. ' in/ ' into ' is mainly a verb-
former. The French form of this prefix is en-, em-, pre-
served in English in such words as endure, engage, envoy,
embellish, employ. But in many words of French introduc-
tion the Latin form has been restored, as in indite, ME
endlten, inquire, imprint. As the spelling makes no differ-
ence in the present pronunciation — en-, e??i- = (-m, -im) —
it fluctuates in some words between the Latin and French
forms, the latter being now preferred in such cases of doubt,
as in encage, enjoin, entitle, embark, formerly written also
incage etc., although impeach now follows the Latin spelling.
§1659.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN PREFIXES. 475
The following are examples of purely Latin words with this
prefix: inaugurate, induce, invade ; impel \ illuminate, im-
merse, irruption ' breaking in/ There are many new-forma-
tions with the French form of the prefix : enlarge ; embody,
enkindle, enliven. In impoverish and improve the Latin form
of the prefix has taken the place of the less distinct a- from
Latin ad-, the former word being the Old French apovrir
[Latin *appauperire\, while the latter is a variation of approve
=aprove. In a few words, such as inborn, income the prefix
is of English origin.
1654. inter-, *enter- 'between/ The French form is
preserved only in enterprise, entertain, the Latin form having
been substituted in all other words of French introduction :
intercede, interfere, interpose, interpret, interval. In intellect^
intelligent and their derivatives the Latin assimilation before /
is kept, which is disregarded in other words, such as inter-
lace, interlude. This prefix is frequently used in new-forma-
tions, such as interchange, international, intertwist.
1655. intro- ' within,' 'into': introduce, introspection.
1656. fmeta-, met-, meth- ' with/ < after/ ' change ' :
metaphysics ' the study that comes after physics/ metamor-
phosis', method.
1657. ne- ' not ' : nefarious, ne-uter, neutral.
1658. non- ' not/ The adverb non ' not' is not used as
a derivative in Latin, occurring only as the first element of
a few group-compounds such as ndn-nulll 'some/ literally
' not-none/ nonnunqvam ' sometimes.' In Modern French
and English it is used as a prefix in such words as nonsense,
nondescript [Latin non descriptum ' not described '], nonentity,
as it already was in Late Latin in non-entitds. It is freely
used in new-formations, such as non-conductor, non-appearance,
non-intervention .
1659. ob-, o(b)s-, o-, assimilated occ- etc., 'towards/
' against ' : obedient, oblong, ob-sfacle, obviate • os-tensible ;
omit', occasion, occur, offend, opposite. In some cases the
476 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1660.
full ob- has taken the place of an assimilated form, as in
obfuscate.
*par- see per-.
1660. fpara-, par-, parh- ' beside,' ' against ' : paradox,
paragraph ; parenthesis, parody ; parhelion.
1661. per- ' through/ occurring also as a preposition.
The assimilated/^/- is preserved in English only in pellucid.
The French form both of the prefix and of the preposition is
par, preserved in English only in pardon [Late Latin per-
dondre\ and parboil (1540). par- in paramount, paramour
is the preposition, these words being really adverbial groups,
meaning originally ' through (by) above/ ' through love.' In
all other words the Latin form has been restored, as in per-
fidy, perfume, permit, pervade. W&parfit from Latin perfectus
through French parfait was Latinized in ME first into perfit,
then into perfect.
*por-, see pro-.
1662. post- 'after': posthumous, postpone, postscript.
1663. pre- Latin prae- ' before/ French pre- : precept, pre-
cede, prefer, prescribe, present, pretend. It is freely used in
new-formations in the sense of ' before in time/ as in precon-
ceive, preingage, prepossess — now used oniy metaphorically—
esuppose.
1664. preter- Latin praeter- ' beyond ' : preter-ite, preter-
'/, preternatural.
1665. pro-, prod- ' before/ ' forth/ < away from/ < depri-
vation/ as in profane literally ' away from the temple/ pro-
hibit, ' acting as substitute ' as in proconsul, ' relation/ as in
proportion, pro ' before/ ' for ' etc. is also an independent
preposition. There was in Latin an allied prefix por-, as in
portendere 'portend.' The popular Old French form of pro -
and the preposition pro was pur, por [modern French pour~\,
which was probably a blending of pro and per. This form
is preserved in such words as purchase [Latin *procaptidre],
purloin, purpose, pursue ; portray, portrait ; poursuivant, pur-
§ 1 673.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN PREFIXES. 477
suivant ' state messenger or attendant/ The following are
examples of the Latin form : precede, pro-duce, progress,
proclaim, protract, provide; prod-igy, prodigal.
1666. fpro- ' before ' : problem, programme, prologue.
1667. fpros- ' towards ' : pros-elyte literally * coming
towards/ prosody.
*pur-, see pro-.
1668. re-, red-. * back,' ' repetition/ as in repeat, ' oppo-
sition/ as in resist, having often only an intensitive force, as
in rejoice. In French re- often became r- before a vowel,
but the full form was restored in English, as in reenter from
French rentrer. The fuller form red- is preserved in redeem,
redound literally ( flow back ' [Latin redunddre\, redolent,
redintegrate. In Spoken English re- has two forms: weak
(-ri) in traditional derivatives such as receive, repeat, re-
veal'; strong (TJJ) meaning 'repetition/ which is freely
used in new-formations, such as reenter, reconsider, re-
introduce, recover an umbrella distinct from the traditional
recover.
1669. retro- 'backwards': retrograde, retrospection.
1670. se-, seel- ' apart/ ' away ' : secede, seduce, seclusion,
select, separate ; sedition.
1671. semi- ' half ' : semicircle, semivowel [Latin semi-
vocdlis], semicolon, semibreve. Also in new-formations, such
as semi-detached.
1672. sine- ' without ' : sinecure.
1673. sub-, assimilated sue- etc. * under/ whence a great
variety of secondary meanings — ' near/ ' behind/ ' following/
' inferiority/ ' diminution/ ' approaching/ 'help/ 'completion/
the primary meaning also developing into that of ' stealth/
' secrecy ' : subterranean, subscribe, suburb, subsequent, subordi-
nate, subdivide, subvention, suborn ; succumb, suggest, support,
suffix, suffice, supply, succour, surreptitious, sub- is freely
used in new-formations, such as subcutaneous, subsoil, sub-
way, especially to express subordination etc., as in sub-corn-
47 # ACCIDENCE. [§1674.
mitlee, sub-editor, sub -lieutenant, sublet, and diminution, as in
the adjectives subacid, sub-transparent, sub-tropical.
1674. subter- ' under ' : subterfuge.
1675. super- ' above/ ' beyond ' became sur- in Old
French, which is frequently preserved in English, as in
surmount, survey, surpass, surface by the side of its Latin
original superficies. It expresses ' beyond in time ' in survive,
superannuated. Its most frequent metaphorical meanings are
' addition/ * excess/ ' superiority/ as in surname [which is an
Anglicised form of French surnoni\ ; surfeit, supernatural,
superfluous', surpass, super eminent. The Latin form of the
prefix is freely used in new-formations, generally to express
' excess ' : super-sensual ' beyond the reach of the senses/
super-phosphate, super-heat 'to heat steam till it resembles
a perfect gas/ super is used in stage-language as an
independent noun in the sense of supernumerary, of which
it is a contraction.
1676. supra- ' above/ ' beyond ' : supramundane.
*sur-, see super-.
1677. sus- has the same meaning as sub-, being a con-
traction of subtus\ susceptible, suspend, sustain [Latin sus-
tinere through French], susst- etc. are shortened to sust-
etc.: su-spect, suspicion.
1678. tsyn-, sy-, assimilated syl- etc. ' with/ f together ' :
synagogue, synod, synopsis, syntax; sy-stem; syl-lable, sym-
metry.
1679. trans-, tra- ' across/ ' through/ * beyond/ The old
French form is tres-, preserved in English only in trespass,
compared with the Latin form of the prefix in transgress,
transs- is shortened to trans- as in transcend. Various
shades of the primary meaning are seen in such words as
transient, transitory, transpire, tra-duce. trans- often ex-
presses ' change/ both of place as in transplant, transpose, and
of quality as in transform, transmutation, translate, travesty.
It is used in new-formations, as in Transatlantic, tranship.
§ 1 682.] DERIVATION '; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 479
*tres-, see trans-.
1680. ultra- * beyond/ both of place and of quantity and
superiority : ultramontane ' beyond the mountains,' that is,
'belonging to the Italian party in the Church of Rome/
ultramarine ' a colour brought from beyond the sea/ ultra-
mundane. Freely used in new-formations to express excess :
ultra-radical, ultra- clerical, whence the detached ultra has
come to be used as an independent adjective in the sense
of 'extreme/ as in ultra measures, whence the derivatives
ultraist, ultraism.
SUFFIXES.
1681. The foreign suffixes will now be treated of under
the general heads of ' noun-forming ' etc., and the sub-
divisions ' personal/ ' abstract/ the suffixes under each
section being arranged so that those which consist entirely
of vowels come first, and are followed by those that contain
consonants in the alphabetic order of those consonants.
Woun-fomning.
Personal.
1682. *-ee is the strong form of French -/ from Latin
-atus, and denotes the person who takes a passive share in
an action or agreement, the corresponding active agent being
denoted by -or, -er. Thus lessee is the person to whom a
house is let on lease, as opposed to the lessor; so also
grantee, legatee, mortgagee. Some of these derivatives have
no special active word corresponding to them, such as
patentee, referee, trustee. In these words the passive meaning
is less prominent, and patentee, for instance, may be taken to
mean either * one to whom a patent is granted/ or ' one who
takes out a patent ' ; and in some cases -ee is a purely active
suffix as in absentee, devotee, refugee.
The weak form of this suffix is -y, -ey, as in attorney =Q\A
French atornt (1695).
4^0 ACCIDENCE, [§1683.
-iff, see -ive under ' Adjective-forming.'
-an, -ean, -ian, -ine, -nt, see under 'Adjective-forming.'
1683. -ar,-er,-eer, -ier from Latin -arius, -art's, Low Latin
-erius, whence the Old French -ier, which in ME became -er.
In ME -er was shortened to -er when weak, whence such MnE
derivatives as barber, officer, prisoner, sorcerer, stranger. In
ME it was often levelled under the English suffix -ere, as in
scolere, templere. Many words took the ending -ar through
the influence of the original Latin forms, some already in
ME, such as vicar, others later, such as scholar, Templar.
The MnE -eer, -ier comes from the strong form of the French
suffix, both forms being freely used in new-formations,
especially -eer\ cavalier — of which chevalier is the Modern
French form introduced into MnE — cuirassier, gondolier;
muleteer, pioneer [Early MnE 'pioner^, pamphleteer, privateer,
volunteer, gazetteer, originally ' newspaper-editor/ now means
' geographical dictionary/
1684. -or from Latin -or, *-our from Latin -or em, through
Old French -or. In Latin this ending is preceded by
derivative /, which under certain conditions becomes s:
imperdtor, professor. In Old French the / was weakened
and then dropped, leaving a hiatus, as ii, emperetir, sauveor
(Latin salvdtore?n}. The / was of course kept in learned
words of later importation into French, and was reintro-
duced into popular words when they were Latinized, whence
the MnE forms autour, author (831) [Latin auctorem],
creditor, orator. In Early MnE the spelling -our was still
preserved, but we now write the Latin -or even in words
that have not been otherwise Latinized, such as emperor,
governor, tailor, conqueror = earlier emperour, taylour etc.,
though we still write saviour.
1685. -or has in many words taken the place of French -er
(as also in some English words, § 1592) : bachelor [Early
MnE bachder\, chancellor ', proprietor, warrior = OE bacheler,
Modern French bachelier etc. This is partly the result of
§ i687.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 481
-or and -er having the same sound (or) even in Early MnE
(859). In some words the opposite change has taken
place, as in miner, robber — ME rninour, robbour.
1686. -or is generally weak, but in legal words such as
grantor, lessor, where it is contrasted with the passive -ee
(1682), it takes strong stress for the sake of emphasis and
distinctness — (le'sor).
-ary, see under ' Adjective-forming/
1687. *-ard, -art. Although introduced into English
from French, this suffix is of Germanic origin. In the
Germanic languages -hard ' hard ' in the sense of ' strong/
'brave/ was a frequent termination of proper names of
men, many of which were introduced into Old French,
whence they passed into English, such as Richard.
Reynard, Renard was originally a man's name — Old High
German Reginhart — which was given to the fox in the story
of ' Renard the fox/ which was introduced into France in
the twelfth century from Flanders. In Flemish the name
of the fox is Reinaert, which in French became Renart\
and the story became so popular in France that renard
is now the only French word for fox, the Old French goupil
'fox' surviving only as a proper name. The name-suffix
-ard, -art was soon used in Old French and the other
Romance languages to form personal nouns, which were at
first nicknames, and had a depreciatory sense. Thus from
the Romance forms of Latin cauda ' tail ' was formed Italian
codardo, Old French coart 'coward/ literally '(dog) with his tail
between his legs/ Other examples are bastard, wizard, which
were imported from French, and English formations, such as
braggart, drunkard, dullard, niggard, sluggard. This suffix
is used to express nationality in Spaniard, Savoyard, probably
at first with an idea of ridicule. It was also used to form
names of animals, as in buzzard, mallard1 wild drake ' [formed
in French from the adjective male] ; rarely to form names of
things, as in petard, poniard [Old French poing ' fist'.]
VOL. i. I i
483 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1688.
-ese, see under ' Adjective-forming.'
1688. *-ess, French -esse from Latin -issa denotes female
persons and — more rarely — female animals: goddess, pro-
phetess, priestess, prior ess, baroness, countess, shepherdess, hostess,
patroness, manageress ; lioness, tigress. Exceptional forma-
tions in point of meaning are : Jewess, negress ; mayoress^
' wife of mayor/ Final weak and silent vowels are omitted
before this suffix, as in princess, negress, votaress from prince,
negro, votary. Nouns in -er, -or often throw out the vowel
when -ess is added, as in tigress, actress from tiger, actor.
Nouns in -erer, -eror, and some in -urer drop the second
of these two weak syllables before -ess, as in murderess,
sorceress, conqueress, treasuress from murderer, sorcerer, con-
queror, treasurer. Similarly in governess from governor.
Some words show further changes: abbess, anchoress from
abbott, anchorite ; duchess (duke), marchioness (marquis),
mistress (master), the last being a weak form corresponding
to the masc. Mr. (mistar).
1689. t-ist, Latin -ista from Greek -isles, generally ex-
presses 'trade/ 'pursuit/ or adherence to a party, dogma
etc. : artist, florist, pugilist, chemist, scientist, which is a con-
venient neologism for ' man of science ' ; communist, nihilist,
royalist, deist. It is used in a more general sense in such
derivatives as bigamist, copyist, provincialist. In tobacconist
from tobacco an n is inserted on the analogy of botanist,
mechanist etc., in egotist by the side of egoist a / on that of
dramatist, both insertions being prompted by the desire to
avoid hiatus.
The parallel t-ast in phantast, enthusiast.
1690. t-ite, Latin -ita from Greek -ites, is used to form
names of nations, sects etc: Canaanite, Israelite, the Stagirite
' he who was bom at Stagira/ that is, the philosopher Aristotle,
Carmelite ; Jacobite.
1691. -trix is the Latin fem. of -tor \ executrix, testatrix
from executor, testator.
§1695.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 483
Diminutive.
1692. -ule, -cule: capsule, globule, pastule ; animalcule —
also in the fuller Latin form animalculum — corpuscuk. The
latter ending \vas shortened to -de in French in most words
where the diminutive meaning was not prominent, whence
the English article, oracle, miracle, spectacle etc. But several
of them retain the diminutive meaning, especially where
* precedes : cuticle ' outer thin skin/ particle, versicle.
1693. -et, -let. -et forms diminutive nouns and ad-
jectives: cabinet, coronet, circlet, islet, cygnet, leveret', dulcet,
russet. On the analogy of circlet from circle etc., where the
/ came to be regarded as part of the suffix, a new diminutive
-let has developed itself, which is freely used in new-forma-
tions, such as leaflet, ringlet, streamlet, troutlet. In many
words these suffixes have lost their diminutive meaning.
Abstract.
1694. *-y, -ey. -y represents Early MnE, ME and Old
French -ie from Latin -ia, and is chiefly used to form abstract
nouns, as in fury, modesty, perfidy, and in more popular
French words, such as barony, company, courtesy, fancy.
Some of these words have more special and concrete meanings,
such as comedy, tragedy, family, navy.
-y = Latin -ia is frequent in names of countries, as in
Italy, Germany, Sicily ', Normandy, although in most cases the
full Latin ending has been restored, as in Arabia (Araby in
poetry), Asia, India, Austria. -y also corresponds to the
Latin neuter ending -ium, as in augury, monastery, remedy,
study, forming concrete as well as abstract words.
1695. -y is also the MnE representative of weak ME -/,
which when strong becomes -ee in MnE (1682). ^/=ME
-e from French -e'= Latin -atus (1716), is sometimes ab-
stract, but generally concrete in a collective sense or in
names of districts : treaty — the learned doublet of which is
tractate — [Latin tractatus~\ ; clergy ; county, duchy.
i i a
, i i
/f
484 ACCIDENCE. [§1696.
1696. It often answers to Old French -ee from Latin
(generally Late Latin) -dta with, the same meaning as -dtus :
destiny, entry, army, jury, country.
1697. The spelling -ey is a mere variety of -y, as in Turkey
(ME Turkie\ attorney (French -e), journey (French -ee).
-y and -ey represent a variety of other Fench vowels in isolated
words.
1698. -ice, *-ess, *-ise from Latin -itia, -ities, Late Latin
-icia, which in Latin were used chiefly to form abstract
nouns from adjectives : avarice, justice, malice, notice. The
popular Old French form was -esse, kept in ME words
such as largesse ' largess ' [large ' liberal '], richesse ' riches '
(998. i). These suffixes were also used in Old French to
form derivatives from nouns, whence the MnE cowardice,
merchandise, which has a concrete meaning. There are
some English new-formations in -ice, -ise : practice, practise,
treatise.
1699. -cy, -sy. These suffixes were first developed from
the Latin combinations -t-ia, -c-ia in such words as constancy,
fallacy from Latin cdnstantia (Late Latin constancia), fallacia,
themselves formed from the derivative adjectives cdnstdns
(constanteni), falldx (falldcem\ In MnE they are still asso-
ciated with derivative / and c, often taking the place of other
endings of Latin origin, especially -tion, as in conspiracy [com-
pare conspirator}, degeneracy [degenerate'], obstinacy •= Latin
cdnspirdtio etc. They have the same abstract meaning in
many other new-formations, such as intricacy, intimacy, lunacy
from intricate, intimate, lunatic, where the second suffix -ic is
disregarded. In these words the c is still felt to be a modifi-
cation of the derivative /, but in the still more recent forma-
tions idiotcy [also idiocy], bankruptcy the / is kept before it, so
that the -cy has developed into an independent, primary
suffix. A special use of these suffixes is to denote rank and
office: curacy, episcopacy, magistracy, papacy, cor netcy, ensigncy;
§1704.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 485
minstrelsy. Some of the above have also a collective sense.
legacy has a concrete meaning.
1700. t-ad, -id were used to form titles of epic poems, as
in Iliad « the tale of Ilium or Troy/ Aeneid ' the adventures
of Aeneas/ whence many new-formations in modern times,
such as Lusiad, Columbiad, the suffix -ad being often used to
form titles of satirical poems, such as The Dunciad ' epic of
dunces.'
1701. The Greek -ad occurs also in other functions, being
used especially to form abstract nouns from numbers, as in
monad, triad^ myriad, and decade with the French form of the
suffix.
1702. *-ade is a French adaptation of Italian -ada from
Latin -ata, of which -ee is the regular French form, as in
armfe, whence the English army [compare the Spanish *
armada}, -ade generally forms collective nouns from other T^
nouns: balustrade, barricade, colonnade', sometimes from
verbs, as in cavalcade [Italian cavalcare ' ride ']. It also forms
abstract nouns from nouns and verbs : blockade, parade,
promenade, serenade.
1703. * -age from Latin -atictim 'forms nouns from various
parts of speech with a great variety of meanings, the most
marked of which are (a) collectiveness, as in baggage, lug-
gage, bandage, cordage, plumage, cellarage ; (b) profit or
charge in relation to the root- word, as in mileage ' payment
or allowance for travelling per mile/ also collectively ' aggre-
gate of miles/ postage, poundage, leakage ; (c) action or state
(rank, quality) : carnage, coinage, language, tillage, voyage ;
bondage, courage, peerage.
-al, see under 'Adjective-forming.'
1704. -ment, Latin -men/urn, forms nouns from verbs. It
forms abstract nouns expressing action, state, or result, as
in argument, emolument, which in Latin means both ' labour '
and ' gain/ So also in many new-formations : agreement,
enjoyment, government, employ ment, punishment, treatment, which
486 ACCIDENCE. [§1705.
are formed from French verbs, and endearment, bereavement,
fulfilment, which are formed from English verbs. In concrete
words -ment expresses sometimes the means of an action, as
in instrument, ligament, pavement, ornament, sometimes its
result, as in apartment, fragment, segment.
1705. From -ment is formed the adjective-suffix -mental
(1730), as in experimental, fundamental, instrumental, whence
again is formed the abstract noun-suffix -mentality (1718),
as in instrumentality.
-in, -ine, see ' Adjective-forming.
1706. -ion (-sion, -tion) from Latin -io (-ioneni), which
forms abstract nouns from verbs : opinion, rebellion, religion ;
compulsion, passion, session ; education, action, fiction, descrip-
tion. Some have developed concrete meanings, such as
nation, legion, region. The popular Old French form of this
suffix was -on, the i being absorbed into the preceding sound
in various ways, whence MnE reason [compare the more
learned ration, rational^ arson, treason. In less familiar
words the Latin z'was restored, whence the ME forms optniun,
condicioun, etc. In Early MnE (-iuun) was shortened to
(-iun), being often made into (-ion) by the influence of the
spelling. The spelling -ion was sometimes introduced into
purely popular words, as mfashwn=zFrenchfafon from Latin
factid, whence the learned faction,
1707. -ana is used in new-formations from names of per-
sons to signify literary gossip about them, as vs\ Johnsoniana
* sayings of, or anecdotes about Dr. Johnson/ Walpoliana, also
publications bearing on them and their literary works, as in
Shakesperiana. This suffix is the Latin neut. plur. of adjec-
tives in -anus (1735), as used in such phrases as dicta Vergi-
liana ' sayings of Virgil ' ( Vergilius). The detached ana has
come to be used as a noun either in the plur. or sing. — in
which latter case it takes a plur. anas, ana's — to signify
' collection of anecdotes of celebrities ' etc., the plur. ana being
now the most usual.
§1712.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 487
1708. -ance, -ence from Latin -antia (-ana'a), -entia
(-encia), which form abstract nouns from the present participle
endings -ans, -ens, ace. antem, -entem (1742), as in arrogance,
ignorance ; experience, innocence, penitence, licence, which is also
written more phonetically license, with an arbitrary distinction
of meaning. The above words preserve their Latin roots,
but most of the derivatives in -ance are of French formation :
entrance, grievance, repentance.
1709. These endings often take on the suffix -y (1694),
giving -ancy, -ency, as in brilliancy, consistency by the side
of brilliance, consistence. In the case of excellence, excellency
there is a difference of meaning. Some occur only in the
longer form, such as constancy [Constance only as a proper
name], infancy, agency, clemency.
1710. -or, *-our from Latin -or, -orem forms abstract
nouns, chiefly from verbs. In MnE the French spelling -our
is preferred to the Latin -or, especially in more popular
words, the usage being the contrary of that which prevails
with the personal ending -or (1684); but in America the
shorter -or is consistently extended to the abstract or-deri-
vatives as well, as in honor = British English honour, parallel
with author. The following are examples of this suffix :
colour, clamour, honour, vapour', liquor, splendor, tumor.
There are some new-formations : demeanour, behaviour.
1711. The lengthened ending -ory= Latin -onus, -dria,
forms adjectives and abstract nouns — in which /, (s) precede
the ending — such as obligatory, compulsory, cursory ; history,
oratory, victory.
1712. *-ry, Old French -rie, arose from the addition of
the abstract suffix -ie (1694) to the French ending -(i}er
(1683), as in chevalerie, chivalerie ' body of knights/ ' chivalry'
from chevalier 'rider/ 'knight' [Late Latin caballarius\. In
English also it was associated with the personal suffix -er
through such derivatives as fisher-y. In MnE this suffix is
mainly used in derivatives from nouns, and occasionally from
488 ACCIDENCE.
adjectives, expressing (a) actions or qualities, as in bigotry,
devilry, drudgery, pedantry, revelry, pleasantry ; (<$) condition,
as in outlawry, slavery ; (c) occupation, trade, art etc., as in
casuistry, palmistry, chemistry, heraldry] (d) the place of
actions, occupations etc., as in nunnery, nursery, vestry ' place
where vestments are kept ' ; (e) the result or product of action
etc., as in poetry, tapestry; (f) collectivity, as in infantry
literally 'band of youths,' peasantry, yeomanry.
1713. -Tire from Latin -ura, which is generally preceded
by derivative /, (s). In popular Old French forms the / dis-
appeared, in the same way as in -e'e (1682); thus Latin
armatura becomes in Old French armeure, which in MnE
has become armour by the influence of the suffix -our. The
/ is of course preserved in learned words, such as nature.
The chief function of this suffix is to form abstract nouns,
generally from verb-roots : figure ; capture, departure ; censure,
composure. It also forms concrete nouns, such as furniture,
picture. In some words it has taken the place of -ir, -or, as
in leisure, pleasure, treasure =Q\& French leisir, pleisir, tresor.
-ese, see under ' Adjective-forming.'
1714. t-ism, Latin -ismus, from Greek -isni6s is freely
used to form abstract nouns expressing action, habit — especi-
ally habits of language or pronunciation— or attachment to
some creed, party etc. : Anglicism, archaism, provincialism ;
despotism, patriotism, mannerism, pugilism ; Calvinism, posi-
tivism, conservatism, egotism by the side of egoism owes its
/ to egotist (1689).
1715. In Greek this suffix is added to adjectives in -ikds
forming the compound suffix -ikismos, Latin -icismus, whence
English -icism, as in Atticism, empiricism, fanaticism, Scotti-
cism, witticism. In the last two -icism must be regarded as
a simple derivative, there being no corresponding adjective
in -zc.
1716. -ate from Latin -atus, gen. -atus expresses office,
function, as in consulate, episcopate and the new-formations
§1719-] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 489
cardinalate, professorate, being sometimes used to express the
holder of the office, as in magistrate, and also in a collective
sense, as in syndicate, electorate 'body of electors' (also
' dignity of Elector ').
1717. -itude from Latin -itudo forms abstract nouns from
adjectives : beatitude, fortitude, lassitude, sollicitude. In multi-
tude it has developed a concrete meaning.
1718. *-ty Latin -tds, -tatem, Old French -te, ME -/<? forms
abstract nouns from adjectives : liberty ; variety ; antiquity, dig-
nity, insipidity, vanity, -ity is often added in this way to adjec-
tive-suffixes, so that, for instance, -city corresponds to -cious,
as in capacity (capacious), ferocity, -idity to -id, as in insipi-
dity, timidity, -ality to -al, as in reality, vitality, -ility to -il
and -He, as in civility, fertility, -arity to -ar, as in regularity,
vulgarity, the most regular and frequent correspondence
being that between -ble (1719) and -bility, as in nobility,
durability, solubility. The above are all of direct Latin
origin. Others have passed through French changes, such
as certainty, plenty, poverty, pity, property, the two last having
the learned doublets piety, propriety. In some words this
suffix has a concrete meaning, as in city, deity, gratuity,
university.
Adjective-forming.
1719. *-ble from Latin -bilis, as in nobilis ' noble/ flebilis
' weeping,' ' doleful/ ' to be wept over/ ' lamentable/ whence
Old French fleble, feble, whence, again, our feeble, of which
foible is a Jater French doublet, tolerdbilis ' tolerable/ terri-
bilis ' terrible/ In English -ble is generally preceded by a
or i — these being the vowels that most frequently precede it in
Latin — only exceptionally by other vowels, as in soluble. In
Latin it has no very definite meaning, and is used both in an
active and passive sense (as in flebilis] ; but in English the
passive meaning prevails, -ble being associated with the adjec-
tive able from Latin habilis, navigable, for instance, being
490 ACCIDENCE. [§ 1720.
regarded as equivalent to ' able to be navigated.' So also in
admirable, malleable, tolerable, flexible, legible, soluble. In
some however the suffix has an active meaning, as in
durable, favorable, peaceable ; forcible, sensible. There are
many new formations in -able, such as unbearable, eatable',
reliable, dependable, formed from rely on, depend on. In the
colloquial getatable the preposition is kept for the sake of
distinctness.
1720. There is another suffix -ble of French origin, from
Latin -plex (-ph'cem) * -fold/ which we have in the English
word double, treble, the p of the Latin form being restored
in triple and in formations from the higher numbers, such
as quadruple, and in multiple.
1721. -bund, * -bond : moribund, rubicund', vagabond,
which is also a noun.
1722. -ic, French -ic, -ique from Latin -tcus and Greek
-ikos, forms adjectives, generally from nouns, many of these
derivations being also used as nouns, some exclusively so.
Thus we have the Latin domestic, generic, public, rustic, the
Greek catholic, cynic, mythic, tonic. This suffix also forms
part of the Latin compound suffix -atic, as in aquatic,
fanatic, lunatic. There is also a Greek ending -tic preceded
by different vowels, in which the / is part of the body of
the word : emphat-ic, systematic [compare systemat-ize\ ;
athletic, phonetic ; despotic.
1723. -ic is also used to form names of races and lan-
guages, as in Celtic (Keltic], Germanic, Italic, and new-
formations such as Finnic, Indie, Tungusic, f Hanseatic,
formed from Hansa, Hanse-towns on the analogy of A siatic
from Asia.
1724. Of the words in -ic some denote persons, such as
catholic, domestic, rustic and the collective public, all of which
are also adjectives, and lunatic, which is now used chiefly as
a noun; while others denote things, such as ionic, others
language, such as Celtic, Gaelic, which however is generally
§1726.] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 491
expressed by -ish (1757). There are also many which denote
arts and sciences, such as arithmetic, logic, music, especially
intheplur. : phonetics, physics [the sing. physic has now a con-
crete meaning], mathematics, optics. In Greek logic was called
he logike te'khne ' the reason science/ where the adjective logikds
is in the fern., agreeing with te'khne', afterwards logike by itself
was used as a fern, noun, which was adopted into Latin, either
unchanged — logice — or with the Latin fern, ending — logica',
and from Latin this and the other words of the same kind
passed through French into English. In Greek these adjec-
tives were also used as nouns in the neut. plur., as in ta
mathematikd, literally ' the mathematical (things).' The MnE
use of the plur. mathematics is an imitation of this usage,
aided by the English habit of making adjectives into nouns
by adding the plur. -s, as in greens, news and the vulgar
rheumatics = rheumatism.
1725. "ic rarely corresponds to Latin -icus, -iqvus, as in
pudic. Latin anfiqvus, anficus passed through French into
English, where it came to be written and pronounced
antic(k\ the meaning ' ancient ' developing into ' quaint/
'odd/ the more learned spelling antique afterwards giving
rise to the pronunciation (sen'tijk) in imitation of French,
the two forms antic and antique being completely isolated
from one another through the former having become a
noun.
1726. Derivations in -ic often take on the adjective suffix
-al, the new -ical and the shorter -ic being often used
almost indifferently, as in generic(al\ mylhic(at), poetic(at),
while in other cases the addition of -al is accompanied by
a marked divergence of meaning, as in politic(at), comic(al).
When a word in ic(s) is used exclusively as a noun, the
corresponding adjective always take -al for the sale of dis-
tinction, as in cynic(at] — though we still say cynic philosopher
in the sense of 'philosopher who is a cynic' — music(al\
mathematical.
49 3 A CC IDE NCR. [§1727.
1727. t-iac forms adjectives — which are sometimes also
used as nouns — from nouns, the ending -al being often
added, as in the case of -ic (1726) : maniac, demoniacal),
hypochondriac(aT], Syriac.
1728. -id forms adjectives from adjectives, verbs, and
nouns : acid, fluid, intrepid, morbid, languid, splendid, vivid.
Some of these, such as acid and fluid, are also used as
nouns.
1729. t-oid. Greek -eides from eidos 'form' makes nouns
into adjectives, such as anthrdpoeidis 'having the form of
a man/ In Latin Greek ei is written i, and as the ending
was generally preceded by o, -oid has come to be regarded
as an independent suffix in such words as anthropoid ' resem-
bling man,' cycloid, rhomboid', on the analogy of which there
are numerous new-formations, such as alkaloid, aneroid,
tabloid, most of which are nouns.
1730. -al. Latin -alis is a very frequent adjective-ending,
as in equal, eternal, natural, real, royal, which is the French
form corresponding the learned regal, both from Latin regdlis.
50 also -ial : essential, martial, pestikntial.
1731. -al is often added to the adjective-suffix -ic (1722),
the resulting -ical being often regarded as an independent
suffix, whence such new-formations as lackadaisical, whim-
sical.
1732. -al also forms nouns with a great variety of
meanings, such as individual, general', animal; mineral,
journal, capital, all of which were originally adjectives, many
of them being still used as such.
1733. -al is especially used in MnE to form abstract nouns,
mostly from verbs, such as arrival, denial, funeral, proposal,
refusal, trial. Some of these — such as funeral — had the
same ending in ME, while others had the ending -aille, which
is the old French form of the Latin adjective neut. plur. -alia
from -alis. Thus victuals appears in ME in the form of
vitaille, which is also the Old French form, from Latin
§1738.] DERIVATION ', FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 493
victualia, which afterwards influenced the spelling of the
word.
1734. -il, -ile, Latin -His, -tits, the former being mainly
from verb-roots, the latter from nouns. From -His : ductile,
fertile, fragile^ missile. From -His : civil, hostile, juvenile,
servile. In gentle we have an English shortening of French
gentil, which was re-introduced into MnE in the form of
genteel, gentile being a third doublet which represents the
original Latin form gentllis * belonging to a gens or family/
The shortening is French in humble, stable, subtle, also written
in the more learned form subtile. In Early MnE -il, -ile
were both pronounced (-il), but now many words written
-He are pronounced with (-ail) through the influence of the
spelling.
1735. -an, -ane from Latin -anus forms adjectives de-
noting persons, such as human, pagan, republican, veteran,
many of which are also used as nouns. Others, such as
publican and the French artisan, are used only as nouns.
This suffix is used especially to forms adjectives and nouns
denoting religious sects etc., such as Anglican, Puritan,
Mahometan, and nations, as in Roman, German, American-,
it has a similar function in Elizabethan.
1736. The popular French form of this suffix was -am,
which is preserved in a few English words, such as captain,
villain.
1737. -ane, as in humane, mundane was in Early MnE a
mere orthographic variant of -an, human and humane being
written at random without any distinction of meaning. We
now pronounce -ane ('em) apparently in imitation of the
English pronunciation of Latin -anus.
1738. -ean, French -een, which has the same meaning
as -an(e), is a lengthened form of Latin -aeus, -eus, the
lengthening -aednus occurring in Latin itself in some words.
By the influence of the English pronunciation of Latin the
ending is in most words pronounced ("ion), but the older
494 ACCIDENCE. L§i739-
pronunciation, in which the suffix is short and weak, is still
kept up in such words as Mediterranean, cerulean, herculean.
Strong -ean in : Manitkean, Pythagorean ; Chaldean, European.
1739. -ian= Latin -idnus also has the same meaning as
-an, being especially frequent in adjectives and nouns ex-
pressing occupation, rank etc. : historian, librarian, musician,
physician, tragedian ; patrician, plebeian ; Christian, presby-
ter tan; barbarian, Arabian, Italian, Turanian.
1740. -ine, -in from Latin -inus, -Inus forms numerous
adjectives, some of which are also used as nouns : Alpine,
crystalline, saline ; elephantine, vulpine ; divine, feminine \
Palatine, Philistine ; clandestine — Latin. In Early MnE -ine
was short, = (in), when weak-stressed, and this is still the
pronunciation in many words, such as feminine, while others,
such as Alpine, have weak (-ain) in imitation of those which
throw the stress on the ending, such as divine. The pronun-
ciation ('ijn) in marine, machine is an imitation of modern
French.
1741. There are many original nouns in Latin -in(e],
such as libertine, medicine, discipline', dolphin, resin. There
is a large number of chemical words in -ine, -in, such as
casein(e], fibrin(e), protein, iodine. When such words become
familiar they are generally written -ine and pronounced with
the French (-ijn), as in gelatine •, glycerine. So also in
numerous newly formed trade-words, such as brillantine,
butterine.
1742. -ant, -ent from the Latin pres. partic. endings -tins
(-antem), -ens (-enteni), form adjectives and nouns from verbs.
Adjectives: arrogant, reluctant, ignorant; eminent, innocent,
penitent. Nouns : dependant [adjective dependent], inhabitant,
agent, student ; torrent ; instant, accident. Many words in -ant
are French formations : brilliant, Early MnE, Old French
brillant', pleasant', merchant, servant.
1743. -lent, from Latin -len/usand -lens (-lentem)', opulent]
pestilent, violent, turbulent.
§1749-] DERIVATION; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 495
From these must be distinguished adjectives formed from
present participles (1741), such as benevol-ent, insolvent.
-pie, see -ble.
1744. -ar from Latin -art's : familiar, popular, regular,
similar, singular. The popular Old French form of this
suffix was -er, and some of the above words were introduced
in ME English with it, such as singukr, but the ending was
Latinized in MnE.
1745. -ary from Latin -arms forms adjectives and personal
nouns : extraordinary, primary, necessary, temporary ; digni-
tary', incendiary, secretary.
1746. -ior. In Latin -tor (-iorem) is the comparative
ending of adjectives, which are also used as nouns : inferior,
superior, junior, senior.
-ior is the masc. and fern, ending, the corresponding neut.
ending being -ius, which is used also adverbially, as in excelsius
'higher/ for which Excelsior is incorrectly substituted as an
interjection — originally the title of a poem.
747. -ese from Latin -ensis, -esis forms adjectives and
nouns from names of countries : Chinese, Japanese, Maltese,
Portuguese. It is also used familiarly in derivatives from
names of authors to express their language or style, such as
Johnsonese ( language of Dr. Johnson/ ( a pompous and long-
winded style resembling his/ Macaulayese.
1748. -ose, *-ous from Latin -onsus, -osus, which was
used to form adjectives from nouns : bellicose, jocose, verbose ;
fabulous, furious, glorious, luminous, monstrous. So also in
the new-formations mischievous, murderous.
1749. In MnE many Latin words were imported into the
written language in the nom. masc. sing, inflection, because
that was the one that came first in the dictionaries and
grammars, -us — which is the most frequent form of this case
in Latin — being written -ous on the analogy of -ous= Latin
- osus ; thus in MnE we have barbarous from Latin barbarus
(fem. sing. nom. Barbara etc.), the popular Old French barbar
496 ACCIDENCE. [§1750.
being also the ME form ; so also in credulous, erroneous,
obvious, spurious. The less frequent nom. sing. masc.
ending -is is made into -tous, as in illustrious [Latin in-
lustris, illustris\, scurrilous.
1750. *-esque from Italian -esco, Latin -iscus, forms
adjectives and nouns : arabesque, grotesque, literally ' grotto-
like/ 'belonging to a grotto/ picturesque, statuesque. The
noun burlesque is also used as a verb.
1751. -t, -te, -ate, -ite, -ute. -/ often represents the
ending of the Latin pret. passive partic., preceded sometimes
by a consonant, but generally by the vowel a, and occasion-
ally by other vowels. Thus the following English adjectives
come from Latin passive participles in -/ : content [generally
made into contented^, abrupt, extinct ; accurate, legitimate,
private, temperate] complete \ definite, exquisite, infinite', abso-
lute, destitute, minute. Others come from Latin passive parti-
ciples with the Latin change of /into s in certain combinations :
dense, diverse, sparse. Some of these — such as content — existed
as popular words in Old French, the others being afterwards
— in English as well as French — formed directly from the
Latin passive participles on the analogy of the popular forms.
In Latin, adjective-participles in -atus were sometimes formed
directly from nouns, as in the Latin words corresponding to
caudate ' tailed/ insensate ; and in MnE — especially in scientific
terminology — many more adjectives of this kind have been
formed directly from Latin nouns, even where there are no
such formations in Latin itself ; thus we have lunulate ' shaped
like a little moon/ 'crescent-shaped' [Latin lunula 'little
moon'], angustifoliate 'with. narrow leaves/ -ate was also
substituted for the French ending of the passive partic., as in
affectionate.
1752. Many of these adjectives naturally developed into
nouns. In Latin itself we have personal (masc.) nouns such
as legatus ' one deputed/ ' legate/ and in Late Latin curdtus,
which in Classical Latin ib used only as an adjective ' careful/
§i754»J DERIVATION ; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 497
has developed the meaning ' curate/ In Latin we have also
neuter nouns in -urn formed from these participle-adjectives,
such as mandatum ' what is commanded/ ' mandate/ edictum
' edict/ tributum ' tribute/ and Late Latin manuscrtptum ' hand-
written/ ' manuscript/ Many others have been formed in
modern times, some of which are used only as nouns, some
also as adjectives: delegate, reprobate, favourite', extract, dupli-
cate, precipitate. Some of these nouns are formed from the
Latin pret. partic. of deponent verbs, which have an active
meaning, such as adept ' one who has attained proficiency/
from the deponent verb adipiscor ' obtain/
1753. The chemical noun-suffix -ate arose from the Latin
technical terms of the older chemists, who called the result of
the action of vinegar (Latin acetuni) on lead (Latin plumbum)
plumbum acetatum ' vinegared lead/ or simply acetatum, which
was regarded as a noun, whence we now say acetate of lead,
carbonate of potash, nitrate of soda, shortened into nitrate. To
express a less degree of chemical action the ending -ite has
been arbitrarily formed from -ate — nitrite, sulphite of soda.
1754. In accordance with the general tendencies of English
many of these adjectives were made into verbs ; thus, as the
adjectives dry and clear (OE dryge, Old French cler] had
become indistinguishable from the verbs to dry, to clear (OE
ddrygan, Old French clairter) so that the verbs seemed to be
formed directly from the adjectives, so also such adjective-
participles as content, corrupt, direct, aggravate, desolate,
moderate, separate came to be used as verbs. At first the
ending -t(e) did duty for the passive partic. of these new
verbs, as in he was contract to Lady Lucy (Shakespere),
they have degenerate, but they soon began to take the
English inflection -ed, so that a distinction was made be-
tween the land was desolate (adj.) and the land was deso-
lated (earlier desolate) by war. By degrees some of the new
participles came themselves to be used as adjectives, such
as contented, situated = the older content, situate. The
VOL. i. K k
498 ACCIDENCE. [§1755.
ending -ate having now the function of a verb, it became
usual to adopt Latin verbs into English in the form of their
passive participles, especially when these were formed in
-dtus\ hence such verbs as asseverate, fascinate, venerate were
formed direct from the Latin verbs asseverdre etc. without the
intervention of an adjective-partic. in -ate, although, of course,
it is not always certain in individual cases whether there was
such an intervening form or not. This verb-forming -ate was
extended to verbs imported from French, as in isolate [French
isoler from Latin insuldre, whence the more learned form
insulate'], felicitate. Lastly -ate has been used to form verbs
from Latin words where there was no corresponding Latin
verb in -are, as in incapacitate, formed from Latin capacitas,
incapdx, substantiate, vaccinate, -ate is also used to form
verbs from words of non-Latin origin, such as assassinate.
1755. -ive from Latin -ivus forms adjectives and nouns :
active, passive, extensive, furtive, primitive; captive, native,
representative-, alternative, motive, prerogative. The popular
Old French form of this suffix was -if, preserved in MnE
caitiff— of which captive is the learned doublet— plaintiff. In
some of these the ending was afterwards Latinized as in
plaintive from plaintif, restive from older res/iff which was
originally applied to a horse which 'remained' (French
rester) in one place.
Verb-forming.
1756. *-fy, French -far from Latin -ficare, a weakening of
facere 'do/ 'make,' forms causative verbs from nouns and
adjectives (pronouns): deify, edify, modify, fortify, purify,
qualify [qvdlis ' such '].
1757. *-ish. Many French verbs in -ir conjugate partly
with -iss before the inflections, which is taken from the Latin
ending -sco (-esco, -isco etc.) of inchoative verbs (290. i). In
Old French this ss= Latin sc had the sound (J), and in ME
it was extended to the in fin. and all the other parts of the
§1758.] DERIVATION '; FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 499
verbs that had it, as injinisshen ' finish/ fltirisshen 'flourish '=
Old French fenir [Modern French finir\, florir, ist pers.
plur. pres. \\\$\c.fenissons,fiorissons from Latin fmire, * finis-
cere, fldrere, florescere. So also in abolish, cherish, nourish,
perish, punish. From such as these it was extended in ME
to many French verbs which never had any iss-forms, as in
astonish from Old French estoner, diminish, distinguish,
publish, vanquish. It was also used in purely English verb-
formations, such as famish from famine.
The original Latin inchoative -scere occurs only in words
taken directly from Latin or which were latinized in French :
acquiesce, effervesce, efflorescent*}.
-ate, see under ' Adjective-forming/
1758. t-ize, -ise, French -iser, Latin -tsare, -tssdre from
Greek -izein, is used to form verbs from nouns and adjectives.
It occurs in Greek formations, such as agonize, crystallize,
theorize ; forms derivatives from Latin words, such as civilize,
patronize, realize ; from French words, as in authorize ; and is
freely employed in new-formations, such as galvanize, mesme-
rize, hypnotize. The spelling -tee in imitation of the Greek
form of the suffix has now supplanted the older -t'se.
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Edited with introduction and notes by E. CANNAN. 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.
Bluntschli's Theory of the State. Translated from the sixth
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Co-operative Production. By B. JONES. With preface by A. H.
DYKE-ACLAND. Two volumes. Crown 8vo. 15s.
Elementary Political Economy. By E. CANNAN. Fourth edition.
Extra fcap 8vo, Is.
Elementary Politics. By T. RALEIGH. Sixth edition revised. Extra
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A Geometrical Political Economy. Being an elementary
Treatise on the method of explaining some Theories of Pure Economic
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The Elements of Railway Economics. By w. M. ACWORTH.
Crown 8vo. Second impression. 2s. net.
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RlCardo's Letters to MalthuS (1810-1823). Edited by J. BONAR.
8vo. 7s. 6d.
Letters to Trower and others (isn-1823). Edited
by J. BONAR and J. H. HOLLANDER. 8vo. 7s. 6d.
Lloyd's Prices of Corn in Oxford, isss-isso. 8vo. is.
The History of Agriculture and Prices in England,
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Vols. I and II (1259-1400). 8vo. £2 2s.
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Vol. VII. In two Parts (1702-1793). 8vo. £2 10s.
First Nine Years of the Bank of England. By the same. 8vo.
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301104114098
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1900
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Sweet, Henry
A new English grammar
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